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BY  JEREMIAH  CHAPLIN. 


LtFE  OF  CHARLES  SUMMER.  With  an  Introduction  by  Hon. 
Wm.  Claflin,  late  Govemot  of  Mass.  Finely  illustrated.  i2mo,  cloth.  504 
pp.  Price  £1.50. 

Extract  from  a  letter  of  the  poet,  JOHN  G.  WHITTIER,  to  Messrs.  D.  Lothrop 
&  Co.  "  /  have  to  thank  you  for  a  copy  of  the  'Life  of  diaries  Sumner, '  by 
y.  andy.  D,  Chaplin.  I  have  read  it  with  much  satisfaction*  It  seems  to  me 
to  five  as  full  and  adequate  an  account  of  the  great  senator  as  could  well  be 
Compressed  in  a  volume  of  its  size.  I  shall  be  glad  to  see  the  every  way  creditable 
volume  you  have  just  published  "widely  circulated  and  -widely  pondered  by  the 
founf  men  of  ow  country." 


LIFE  OF  BExyAMix  FRANKLIN,    izmo,  cloth,    illustrated. 

Price  $  1.25. 

At  a  leader  of  men,  an  inventor,  an  editor,  a  man  of  ideas,  a  humorist,  and 
•  publicist,  Franklin  is  without  superior.  It  gives  us  pleasure  to  invite  attention 
to  Mr.  Chaflin' i  admirable  biography  of  this  famous  A  merican.  Thert  are 
Urger  works  upon  his  life,  but  none  better.  —  EPISCOPAL  REGISTER. 


J.  HE  AlEMORIA  L  IIoUR ;  or,  TUB  LORD'S  SUPPER  IN  ITS  RELATIC 
TO  DOCTRINE  AND  LIPS.    Large  i6mo.    Price  $1.25. 

D.  LOTHROP  AND  COMPANY, 

32  FRANKLIN  ST.,  BOSTON. 


Sent,  fottpaid,  on  receipt  of  the  trice.    Fractional  amounts  can  le  remitted 


(2) 


CHIPS 


FROM  THE 


WHITE    HOUSE 

OB,  SELECTIONS  FROM  THE 

SPEECHES,  CONVERSATIONS,  DIARIES,  LETTERS,  AND 

OTHER  WRITINGS,  OF  ALL  THE  PRESIDENTS 

OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

COMPILED  BY 

JEREMIAH    CHAPLIN. 


BOSTON  : 

D.    LOTHROP    AND    COMPANY, 

32   FKANKLIN   STREET. 
1881. 


COPYRIGHT, 

1881, 
BT   D.  LOT1IUOP  &   CO. 


mr  Dvrrr,  C»«HM»I<  A  Co. 
MS  Wuhknffc*  St.,  Botton. 


8IMKOTTPW)  AT  THE  DOCTON  8TIUCOTTPK  FOCNDKI, 

No.  4  PKAKL  STRKCT. 


TO    „ 

JAMES   A.  GARFIELD, 

WORTHY  SUCCESSOR 

TO  THE   BEST    WHO   HAVE    PRECEDED   HTM   IN   THE 
HIGHEST  OFFICE  OF  THE  REPUBLIC, 


IS  RESPECTFULLY  DEDICATED. 

MARCH  I,  1881. 


THE   PRESIDENTS. 

FROM    1789    TO     1881—92    YEARS. 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON,  Virginia,  1789-1797— 8  years. 

JOHN  ADAMS,  Massachusetts,  1797-1801  —  4  years. 

THOMAS  JEFFERSON,  Virginia,  1801-1809  —  8  years. 

JAMlIo  MADISON,  Virginia,  1809-1817  — 8  years. 

JAMES  MONROE,  Virginia,  1817-1825  —  8  years. 

JOHN  QUINCY  ADAMS,  Massachusetts,  1825-1829  —  4  years. 

ANDREW  JACKSON,  Tennessee,  1829-1837  —  8  years. 

MARTIN  VAN  BUREN,  New  York,  1837-1841  —4  years. 

WILLIAM  HENRY  HARRISON,  Ohio,  1841  —  1  month. 

JOHN  TYLER,  Virginia,  1841-1845  —  3  years  and  11  months. 

JAMES  K.  FOLK,  Tennessee,  1845-1849  —  4  years. 

ZACIIARY   TAYLOR,  Louisiana,   1849-1850  —  1  year,  4  months, 

6  days. 
MILLARD  FILLMORE,  New  York,  1850-1853  —  2  years,  7  months, 

22  days. 

FRANKLIN  PIERCE,  New  Hampshire,  1853-1857  —  4  years. 
JAMES  BUCHANAN,  Pennsylvania,  1857-1861— 4  years. 
ABRAHAM  LINCOLN,  Illinois,  1861-1865  — 4  years,  1  month,  and 

11  days. 

ANDREW  JOHNSON,  Tennessee,  1865-1869—3  years,  10  months, 
^^~      and  17  days. 

yLYSSES  8.  GRANT,  niinois,  1869-1877-8years. 
RUTHERFORD  B.  HAYES,  Ohio,  1877-1881— 4  years. 

JAMES  A.  GARFLELD,  issi- 

6 


PKEFACE. 


THE  present  volume  is  not  intended  to  be  so  much 
a  contribution  to  political  science,  as  to  exhibit  aa 
interesting  phase  in  American  histor}T,  as  it  appears  in 
the  opinions,  upon  a  variet}T  of  subjects  of  general 
interest,  political  and  otherwise,  of  the  men  who,  dur- 
ing the  period  of  nearly  a  centuiy,  have  successively 
reached  the  highest  position  in  the  Republic.  It  is  an 
occasion  for  just  pride  for  ourselves,  and  cheering 
anticipations  for  mankind,  that,  bej'ond  all  precedent 
in  ancient  and  modern  times,  in  the  regular  succession 
of  rulers,  the  chief  magistrates  of  the  United  States 
have  all  been  men  of  fair  reputation  and  abilities,  and 
many  of  them  men  of  superior  intellectual  capacity 
and  singular  devotion  to  the  interests  of  humanity  and 
freedom.  This  fact  speaks  loudly  in  favor  of  popular 
self-government,  as  opposed  to  hereditary  rule.  In 
this  important  respect,  as  in  other  ways,  the  people 
have  never  failed  to  show  their  capacity  to  manage 
their  own  affairs.  And  the  history  of  the  past  fur- 
nishes a  guarantee,  that  no  man  of  feeble  ability  or 


8  PREFACE. 

questionable  morality  can  hereafter  gain  the  suffrages 
of  the  free  citizens  of  America,  to  represent  and  exe- 
cute their  will  in  the  highest  office  in  their  gift. 

In  the  case  of  two  or  three  of  the  Presidents,  the 
selections  from  their  writings  are  necessarily  brief  and 
unsatisfactory  ;  but  for  the  rest,  more  abundant  mate- 
rial has  enabled  us  to  present  their  opinions  with 
sufficient  fulness. 

It  is  proper  to  state  that  for  the  conversations  of 
General  Grant,  we  are  indebted  to  a  work  of  much 
interest  and  value  —  "Around  the  World  with  General 
Grant  in  1877-1879,"  by  JOHN  R.  YOUNG.  J.  C. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER.  PAGE. 

I.  GEORGE  WASHINGTON 11 

II.  JOHN  ADAMS 45 

III.  THOMAS  JEFFERSON 88 

IV.  JAMES  MADISON Ill 

V.  JAMES  MONROE 127 

VI.  JOHH  QCINCY  ADAMS 133 

VII.  ANDREW  JACKSON       .         .        .        .         .        .176 

VIII.  MARTIN  VAN  BUREN 186 

IX.  WILLIAM  HENRY  HARRISON        ....  195 

X.  JOHN  TYLER 202 

XI.  JAMES  K.  POLK 205 

XII.  ZACHARY  TAYLOR 210 

XIII.  MlLLARD    FlLLMORB 212 

XIV.  FRANKLIN  PIERCE 217 

XV.  JAMES  BUCHANAN 219 

XVI.  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 223 

XVII.  ANDREW  JOHNSON        .        .         .    0  .        .        .  284 

XVIII.  ULYSSES  S.  GRANT 292 

XIX.  RUTHERFORD  B.  HAYES 347 

XX.  JAMES  A.  GARFIELD 388 

9 


"  THERE  is  not,  perhaps,  one  sovereign  of  the  Continent  who, 
in  any  sense  of  the  word,  can  be  said  to  honor  our  nature, 
while  many  make  us  almost  ashamed  of  it.  The  curtain  is 
seldom  drawn  aside  without  exhibiting  to  us  beings,  worn  out 
with  vicious  indulgence,  diseased  in  mind  if  not  in  body,  the 
creatures  of  caprice  and  insensibility. 

"  On  the  other  hand,  since  the  foundation  of  the  American 
Republic,  the  chair  has  never  been  filled  by  a  man  for  whose 
life,  to  say  the  least,  any  American  need  to  blush."  —  London 
Morning  Chronicle,  after  the  death,  of  Adams  and  Jefferson, 

"  Every  four  years  there  springs  from  the  vote  created  by 
the  whole  people  a  President  over  that  great  nation.  I  think 
the  world  affords  no  finer  spectacle  than  this  :  I  think  it  affords 
no  higher  dignity  —  that  there  is  no  greater  object  of  ambition 
on  the  political  stage  on  which  men  are  permitted  to  move. 
You  may  point,  if  you  like,  to  hereditary  royalty,  —  to  crowns 
coming  down  through  successive  generations  in  the  same  fami- 
lies, to  thrones  based  on  prescription  or  on  conquest,  to  sceptres 
wielded  over  veteran  legions  or  subject  realms,  —  but  to  my 
mind  there  is  nothing  more  worthy  of  reverence  or  obedience, 
nothing  more  sacred,  than  the  authority  of  a  freely  chosen 
magistrate  of  a  great  and  free  people."  —  JOHN  BRIGHT,  Speech 
at  Rochdale,  Eng.,*Dec.  4,  1860. 

10 


CHIPS  FROM  THE  WHITE  HOUSE. 


GEORGE    WASHINGTON. 

BORN  1732;  DIED  1799,  AGED  67.  — MAJOR  IN  1751.  — MEMBER 
OF  PROVINCIAL  ASSEMBLY  OF  VIRGINIA.  —  COMMANDER- 
IN-CHIEF  OF  THE  CONTINENTAL  ARMY,  JUNE  15,  1775.— 
RESIGNED  HIS  COMMAND,  DECEMBER  23,  1783.  — MEMBER 
OF  THE  CONVENTION  WHICH  FRAMED  THE  CONSTITU- 
TION, 1787.— PRESIDENT,  178&-17OT. 

[To  Captain  Robert  Mackenzie,  of  Virginia,  who  had 
written  to  Washington  from  Boston,  September  13,  1774, 
complaining  of  the  province  of  Massachusetts  as  aiming  at 
"  total  independence,"  and  that  "  the  rebellious  and  numer- 
ous meetings  of  men  in  arms,  their  scandalous  and  ungen- 
erous attacks  upon  the  best  characters  in  the  province, 
obliging  them  to  save  themselves  by  flight,  and  their  re- 
peated but  feeble  threats  to  dispossess  the  troops,  have  fur- 
nished sufficient  reasons  to  General  Gage  to  put  the  town 
in  a  formidable  state  of  defence,  about  which  we  are  now 
fully  employed,  and  which  will  be  shortly  accomplished,  to 
their  great  mortification."] 

PHILADELPHIA,  9  October,  1774. 

DEAR  SIR  :  Your  letter  of  the  13th  ultimo,  from 
Boston,  gave  me  pleasure,  as  I  learnt  thereby  that 

you  were  well,  and  might  be  expected  at  Mount 

11 


12  CHIPS  FROM  THE  WHITE   HOUSE. 

Vernon,  in  your  way  to  and  from  James  River,  in 
the  course  of  the  winter. 

When  I  have  said  this,  permit  me,  with  the 
freedom  of  a  friend,  to  express  my  sorrow  that 
fortune  should  place  you  in  a  service  thut  must  fix 
curses  to  the  latest  posterity  upon  the  contrivers, 
and,  if  success  (which,  by  the  by,  is  impossible) 
accompanies  it,  execrations  upon  all  those  who 
have  been  instrumental  in  the  execution. 

I  do  not  mean  by  this  to  insinuate  that  an  officer 
is  not  to  discharge  his  duty,  even  when  chance, 
not  choice,  has  placed  him  in  a  disagreeable  situ- 
ation ;  but  I  conceive,  when  you  condemn  the  con- 
duct of  the  Massachusetts  people,  you  reason  from 
effects,  not  causes  ;  otherwise  you  would  not  won- 
der at  a  people,  who  are  every  day  receiving  fresh 
proofs  of  a  systematic  assertion  of  an  arbitrary 
power,  deeply  planned  to  overturn  the  laws  and 
constitution  of  their  country,  and  to  violate  the 
most  essential  and  valuable  rights  of  mankind, 
being  irritated,  and  with  difficulty  restrained  from 
acts  of  the  greatest  violence  and  intemperance. 
For  my  own  part,  I  confess  to  you  candidly,  that 
I  view  things  in  a  very  different  point  of  light 
from  the  one  in  which  you  seem  to  consider  them ; 
and  though  you  are  led  to  believe  by  venal  men,  — 
for  I  must  take  the  liberty  of  so  calling  those  new- 
fangled counsellors  who  fly  to  and  surround  you, 
and  all  others  who  for  honor  or  pecuniary  grati- 


GEORGE   WASHINGTON.  13 

fication  will  lend  their  aid  to  overturn  the  consti- 
tution, and  introduce  a  system  of  arbitrary  gov- 
ernment,—  although  you  are  taught,  I  say,  by 
discoursing  with  such  men,  to  believe  that  the- 
people  of  Massachusetts  are  rebellious,  setting  up 
for  independency,  and  what  not,  give  me  leave, 
my  good  friend,  to  tell  you  that  you  are  abused, 
grossly  abused.  This  I  advance  with  a  degree  of 
confidence  and  boldness  which  may  claim  your  be- 
lief, having  better  opportunities  of  knowing  the 
real  sentiments  of  the  people  you  are  among,  from 
the  leaders  of  them,  in  opposition  to  the  present 
measures  of  the  administration,  than  you  have 
from  those  whose  business  it  is  not  to  disclose 
truths,  but  to  misrepresent  facts  in  order  to  jus- 
tify as  much  as  possible  to  the  world  their  own 
conduct.  Give  me  leave  to  add,  —  and  I  think  I 
can  announce  it  as  a  fact,  —  that  it  is  not  the  wish 
or  interest  of  that  government,  or  any  other  upon 
this  continent,  separately  or  collectively,  to  set  up 
for  independence ;  but  this  you  may  at  the  same 
time  rely  on,  that  none  of  them  will  ever  submit 
to  the  loss  of  those  valuable  rights  and  privileges 
which  are  essential  to  the  happiness  of  every  free 
state,  and  without  which,  life,  liberty,  and  prop- 
erty are  rendered  totally  insecure. 


14  CHIPS  FROM  THE  WHITE   HOUSE. 

[From  a  reply  to  a  Congratulatory  Address  by  the  President 
of  the  New  York  Congress,  1775.] 

As  to  the  fatal  but  necessary  operations  of  war, 
when  we  assumed  the  soldier  we  did  not  lay  aside 
the  citizen;  and  we  shall  most  sincerely  rejoice 
with  you  in  that  happy  hour  when  the  establish- 
ment of  American  liberty  on  the  most  firm  and 
solid  foundations  shall  enable  us  to  return  to  our 
private  stations,  in  the  bosom  of  a  free,  peaceful, 
and  happy  country. 

[From  a  letter  to  his  wife,  on  his  appointment  to  the  com- 
mand of  the  American  army,  1775.] 

You  may  believe  me  when  I  assure  you,  in  the 
most  solemn  manner,  that,  so  far  from  seeking  this 
appointment,  I  have  used  every  endeavor  in  my 
power  to  avoid  it,  not  only  from  my  unwillingness 
to  part  with  you  and  the  family,  but  from  a  con- 
sciousness of  its  being  a  trust  too  great  for  my 
capacity,  and  I  should  ftnjoy  more  real  happiness 
in  one  month  with  you  at  home  than  I  have  the 
most  distant  prospect  of  finding  abroad,  if  my  stay 
were  to  be  seven  times  seven  years.  But  as  it  has 
been  a  kind  of  destiny  that  has  thrown  me  upon 
this  service,  I  shall  hope  that  my  undertaking  it 

is  designed  to  answer  some  good  purpose 

I  shall  rely  confidently  on  that  Providence  which 
has  heretofore  preserved  and  been  bountiful  to 
me,  not  doubting  but  that  I  shall  return  safe  to 


GEORGE   WASHINGTON.  15 

you  in  the  fall.  I  shall  feel  no  pain  from  the  toil 
or  danger  of  the  campaign ;  my  unhappiness  will 
flow  from  the  uneasiness  I  know  you  will  feel  from 
being  left  alone.  I  therefore  beg  that  you  will 
summon  your  whole  fortitude,  and  pass  your  time 
as  agreeably  as  possible.  Nothing  will  give  me 
so  much  sincere  satisfaction  as  to  hear  this,  and  to 
hear  it  from  your  own  pen. 

[From  a  letter  to  his  brother  John  Augustine,  on  the  same 
occasion.] 

I  am  now  to  bid  adieu  to  you,  and  to  every 
kind  of  domestic  ease,  for  awhile.  I  am  embarked 
on  a  wide  ocean,  boundless  in  its  prospect,  and  in 
which,  perhaps,  no  safe  harbor  is  to  be  found. 
I  have  been  called  upon  by  the  unanimous  voice 
of  the  colonies  to  take  the  command  of  the  con- 
tinental army ;  an  honor  I  neither  sought  after  nor 
desired,  as  I  am  thoroughly  convinced  that  it  re- 
quires great  abilities,  and  much  more  experience 
than  I  am  master  of.  ...  I  shall  hope  that  my 
friends  will  visit,  and  endeavor  to  keep  up  the 
spirits  of,  my  wife  as  much  as  they  can,  for  my 
departure  will,  I  know,  be  a  cutting  stroke  upon 
her ;  and  on  this  account  alone  I  have  many  disa- 
greeable sensations. 


16  CHIPS  FROM  THE   WHITE  HOUSE. 

[Letter  to  George  William  Fairfax,  England.    The  fight  at 
Concord,  here  referred  to,  occurred  April  19,  1775.] 
PHILADELPHIA,  31st  May,  1775. 

DEAR  SIR  :  Before  this  letter  will  come  to  hand 
you  must  undoubtedly  have  received  an  account 
of  the  engagement  in  the  Massachusetts  Bay  be- 
tween the  ministerial  troops  (for  we  do  not,  nor 
can  we  yet  prevail  upon  ourselves  to,  call  them 
the  king's  troops)  and  the  provincials  of  that  gov- 
ernment. 

General  Gage  acknowledges  that  the  detach- 
ment under  Lieutenant-Colonel  Smith  was  sent 
out  to  destroy  private  propert}',  or,  in  other 
words,  to  destroy  a  magazine  which  self-preser- 
vation obliged  the  inhabitants  to  establish.  And 
he  also  confesses,  in  effect,  at  least,  that  his  men 
made  a  very  precipitate  retreat  from  Concord, 
notwithstanding  the  reinforcement  under  Lord 
Percy ;  the  last  of  which  may  serve  to  convince 
Lord  Sandwich,  and  others  of  the  same  sentiment, 
that  the  Americans  will  fight  for  their  liberties  and 
property,  however  pusillanimous  in  his  lordship's 
eye  they  may  appear  in  other  respects. 

From  the  best  accounts  I  have  been  able  to  col- 
lect of  that  affair,  indeed  from  every  one,  I  believe 
the  fact,  stripped  of  all  coloring,  to  bo  plainly  this  : 
That  if  the  retreat  had  not  been  as  precipitate  as  it 
was,  and  God  knows  it  could  not  well  have  been 
more  so,  the  ministerial  troops  must  have  surren- 


GEORGE   WASHINGTON.  17 

dered,  or  been  totally  cut  off.  For  they  had  not 
arrived  in  Charlestown  (under  cover  of  their  ships) 
half  an  hour,  before  a  powerful  body  of  men  from 
Marblehead  and  Salem  was  at  their  heels,  and 
must,  if  they  had  happened  to  be  up  one  hour 
sooner,  inevitably  have  intercepted  their  retreat  to 
Charlestown.  Unhappy  it  is,  though,  to  reflect, 
that  a  brother's  sword  has  been  sheathed  in  a 
brother's  breast,  and  that  the  once  happy  and 
peaceful  plains  of  America  are  either  to  be 
drenched  with  blood  or  inhabited  by  slaves.  Sad 
alternative  !  But  can  a  virtuous  man  hesitate  in 
his  choice? 

[From  a  letter  to  Joseph  Reed.] 

CAMBRIDGE,  14  January,  1776. 

DEAR  SIR  :  The  reflection  on  my  situation,  and 
that  of  this  army,  produces  many  an  unhappy 
hour  when  all  around  me  are  wrapped  in  sleep. 
Few  persons  know  the  predicament  we  are  in  on  a 
thousand  accounts ;  fewer  still  will  believe,  if  any 
disaster  happens  to  these  lines,  from  what  cause  it 
flows.  I  have  often  thought  how  much  happier  I 
should  have  been  if,  instead  of  accepting  the  com- 
mand under  such  circumstances,  I  had  taken  my 
musket  on  my  shoulder  and  entered  the  ranks,  or, 
if  I  could  have  justified  the  matter  to  posterity  and 
my  own  conscience,  had  retired  to  the  back  coun- 
try and  lived  in  a  wigwam.  If  I  shall  be  able 


18  CHIPS  FROM  THE   WHITE  HOUSE. 

to  rise  superior  to  these  and  many  other  difficul- 
ties which  might  be  enumerated,  I  shall  most  re- 
ligiously believe  that  the  finger  of  Providence  is  in 
it,  to  blind  the  eyes  of  our  enemies  ;  for  surely,  if 
we  get  well  through  this  month,  it  must  be  for 
want  of  their  knowing  the  disadvantages  we  labor 
under. 

[To  Benedict  Calvert.] 

MOUNT  VERNON,  3  April,  1773. 

DEAR  SIR  :  I  am  now  set  down  to  write  you  on 
a  subject  of  importance,  and  of  no  small  embarrass- 
ment to  me.  My  son-in-law  and  ward,  Mr.  Cus- 
tis,  has,  as  I  have  been  informed,  paid  his  addresses 
to  your  second  daughter,  and,  having  made  some 
progress  in  her  affections,  has  solicited  her  in  mar- 
riage. How  far  a  union  of  this  sort  maybe  agree- 
able to  you,  you  best  can  tell ;  but  I  should  think 
myself  wanting  in  candor,  were  I  not  to  confess 
that  Miss  Nelly's  amiable  qualities  are  acknowl- 
edged on  all  hands,  and  that  an  alliance  with 
your  family  will  be  pleasing  to  his. 

This  acknowledgment  being  made,  you  must 
permit  me  to  add,  sir,  that  at  this,  or  in  any  short 
time,  his  youth,  inexperience,  and  unripened  edu- 
cation, are,  and  will  be,  insuperable  obstacles,  in 
my  opinion,  to  the  completion  of  the  marriage.  As 
his  guardian,  I  conceive  it  my  indispensable  duty 
to  endeavor  to  carry  him  through  a  regular  course 


GEORGE   WASHINGTON.  19 

of  education,  (many  branches  of  which,  I  am  sorry 
to  add,  he  is  totally  deficient  in,)  and  to  guard  his 
youth  to  a  more  advanced  age  before  an  event,  on 
which  his  own  peace  and  the  happiness  of  another 
are  to  depend,  takes  place.  Not  that  I  have  any 
doubt  of  the  warmth  of  his  affections,  nor,  I  hope, 
I  may  add,  any  fears  of  a  change  in  them ;  but  at 
present  I  do  not  conceive  that  he  is  capable  of  be- 
stowing that  attention  to  the  important  consequences 
of  the  married  state,  which  is  necessary  to  be 
given  by  those  who  are  about  to  enter  into  it,  and 
of  course  I  am  unwilling  he  should  do  it  till  he  is. 
If  the  affection  which  they  have  avowed  for  each 
other  is  fixed  upon  a  solid  basis,  it  will  receive  no 
diminution  in  the  course  of  two  or  three  years,  in 
which  time  he  may  prosecute  his  studies,  and 
thereby  render  himself  more  deserving  of  the  lady, 
and  useful  to  society.  If,  unfortunately,  as  they 
are  both  young,  there  should  be  an  abatement  of 
affection  on  either  side,  or  both,  it  had  better  pre- 
cede than  follow  marriage. 

Delivering  my  sentiments  thus  freely  will  not,  I 
hope,  lead  you  into  a  belief  that  I  am  desirous  of 
breaking  off  the  match.  To  postpone  it  is  all  I 
have  in  view ;  for  I  shall  recommend  to  the  young 
gentleman,  with  the  warmth  that  becomes  a  man 
of  honor,  (notwithstanding  he  did  not  vouchsafe  to 
consult  either  his  mother  or  me  on  the  occasion, ) 
to  consider  himself  as  much  engaged  to  your 


20  CHIPS  FKOM  THE   WHITE  HOUSE. 

daughter  as  if  the  indissoluble  knot  were  tied; 
and,  as  the  surest  means  of  effecting  this,  to  apply 
himself  closely  to  his  studies,  (and  in  this  advice  I 
flatter  myself  you  will  join  me,)  by  which  he  will, 
in  a  great  measure,  avoid  those  little  flirtations 
with  other  young  ladies,  that  may,  by  dividing  the 
attention,  contribute  not  a  little  to  divide  the  af- 
fection. 

It  may  be  expected  of  me,  perhaps,  to  say  some- 
thing of  property ;  but,  to  descend  to  particulars, 
at  this  time,  must  seem  rather  premature.  In 
general,  therefore,  I  shall  inform  you,  that  Mr. 
Custis's  estate  consists  of  about  fifteen  thousand 
acres  of  land,  a  good  part  of  it  adjoining  the  City 
of  Williamsburg,  and  none  of  it  forty  miles  from 
that  place  ;  seyeral  lots  in  the  said  city  ;  between 
two  and  three  hundred  Negroes  ;  and  about  eight 
or  ten  thousand  pounds  upon  hand,  and  in  the 
hands  of  his  merchants.  This  estate  he  now  holds 
independent  of  his  mother's  dower,  which  will  be 
an  addition  to  it  at  her  death ;  and,  upon  the 
whole,  it  is  such  an  estate  as  you  will  readily  ac- 
knowledge ought  to  entitle  him  to  a  handsome  por- 
tion with  a  wife.  But  as  I  should  never  require  a 
child  of  my  own  to  make  a  sacrifice  of  himself  to 
interest,  so  neither  do  I  think  it  incumbent  on  me 
to  recommend  it  as  a  guardian. 

At  all  times,  when  you,  Mrs.  Calvert,  or  the 
young  ladies  can  make  it  convenient  to  favor  us 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON.  21 

with  a  visit,  we  should  be  happy  in  seeing  you  at 
this  place.  Mrs.  Washington  and  Miss  Custis  join 
me  in  respectful  compliments,  and 

I  am,  dear  sir,  your  most  obedient  servant. 

[Letter  to  Miss  Phillis  Wheatley,  a  colored  poet,  who  pub- 
lished a  volume  of  poems  in  1773,  when  she  was  nine- 
teen years  of  age.  She  addressed  a  letter  and  poem  to 
Washington.] 

CAMBRIDGE,  28  February,  1776. 

Miss  PHILLIS  :  Your  favor  of  the  26th  of  Octo- 
ber did  not  reach  my  hands  till  the  middle  of  De- 
cember. Time  enough,  you  will  say,  to  have  given 
an  answer  ere  this.  Granted.  But  a  variety  of 
important  occurrences,  continually  interposing  to 
distract  the  mind  and  withdraw  the  attention,  I 
hope  will  apologize  for  the  delay,  and  plead  my 
excuse  for  the  seeming  but  not  real  neglect.  I 
thank  you  most  sincerely  for  your  polite  notice  of 
me,  in  the  elegant  lines  you  enclosed ;  and  how- 
ever undeserving  I  may  be  of  such  encomium  and 
panegyric,  the  style  and  manner  exhibit  a  striking 
proof  of  your  poetical  talents  ;  in  honor  of  which, 
and  as  a  tribute  justly  due  to  you,  I  would  have 
published  the  poem  had  I  not  been  apprehensive 
that,  while  I  only  meant  to  give  the  world  this 
new  instance  of  your  genius,  I  might  have  incurred 
the  imputation  of  vanity.  This,  and  nothing  else, 
determined  me  not  to  give  it  place  in  the  public 
prints. 


22  CHIPS  FROM  THE  WHITE  HOUSE. 

If  you  should  ever  come  to  Cambridge,  or  near 
head-quarters,  I  shall  be  happy  to  see  a  person  so 
favored  by  the  Muses,  and  to  whom  nature  has 
been  so  liberal  and  beneficent  in  her  dispensations. 

I  am,  with  great  respect,  your  obedient  humble 
servant. 

[From  Orderly  Book,  August  3d,  1776.] 
That  the  troops  may  have  an  opportunity  of  at- 
tending public  worship,  as  well  as  to  take  some 
rest  after  the  great  fatigue  they  have  gone  through, 
the  General  in  future  excuses  them  from  fatigue 
duty  on  Sundays,  except  at  the  ship-yards,  or  on 
special  occasions,  until  further  orders.  The  Gen- 
eral is  sorry  to  be  informed  that  the  foolish  and 
wicked  practice  of  profane  cursing  and  swearing, 
a  vice  heretofore  little  known  in  an  American 
army,  is  growing  into  fashion ;  he  hopes  the  offi- 
cers will,  by  example  as  well  as  influence,  endeavor 
to  check  it,  and  that  both  they  and  the  men  will 
reflect  that  we  can  have  little  hope  of  the  blessing 
of  Heaven  on  our  arms,  if  we  insult  it  by  our  im- 
piety and  folly ;  added  to  this,  it  is  a  vice  so  mean 
and  low,  without  any  temptation,  that  every  man 
of  sense  and  character  detests  and  despises  it. 

[From  a  letter,  August  20, 1778.] 
The  hand  of  Providence  has  been  so  conspicu- 
ous in  all  this,  that  he  must  be  worse  than  an 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON.  23 

infidel,  that  lacks  faith,  and  more  than  wicked, 
that  has  not  gratitude  enough  to  acknowledge  his 
obligations. 

[To  Dr.  John  Cochrane,  Surgeon  and  Physician  General.] 
WEST  POINT,  16  August,  1779. 

DEAR  DOCTOR  :  I  have  asked  Mrs.  Cochrane  and 
Mrs.  Livingston  to  dine  with  me  to-morrow ;  but 
am  I  not  in  honor  bound  to  apprise  them  of  theii 
fare  ?  As  I  hate  deception,  even  where  the  imagi- 
nation only  is  concerned,  I  will.  It  is  needless  to 
premise,  that  my  table  is  large  enough  to  hold  the 
ladies.  Of  this  they  had  ocular  proof  yesterday. 
To  say  how  it  is  usually  covered  is  rather  more 
essential;  and  this  shall  be  the  purport  of  my 
letter. 

Since  our  arrival  at  this  happy  spot,  we  have 
had  a  ham,  sometimes  a  shoulder  of  bacon,  to 
grace  the  head  of  the  table ;  a  piece  of  roast  beef 
adorns  the  foot ;  and  a  dish  of  beans  or  greens, 
almost  imperceptible,  decorates  the  centre.  When 
the  cook  has  a  mind  to  cut  a  figure,  which  I  pre- 
sume will  be  the  case  to-morrow,  we  have  two  beef- 
steak pies,  or  dishes  of  crabs,  in  addition,  one  on 
each  side  of  the  centre  dish,  dividing  the  space 
and  reducing  the  distance  between  dish  and  dish  to 
about  six  feet,  which  without  them  would  be  near 
twelve  feet  apart.  Of  late  he  has  had  the  surpris- 
ing sagacity  to  discover  that  apples  will  make  pies  • 


24  CHIPS  FROM  THE   WHITE   HOUSE. 

and  it  is  a  question,  if  in  the  violence  of  his  efforts, 
we  do  not  get  one  of  apples,  instead  of  having 
both  of  beef-steaks.  If  the  ladies  can  put  up  with 
such  entertainment,  and  will  submit  to  partake  of 
it  on  plates  once  tin  but  now  iron  (not  become  so 
by  the  labor  of  scouring),  I  shall  be  happy  to 
see  them ;  I  am,  dear  Doctor. 

Yours,  etc. 

[From  a  letter  to  Lafayette,  in  1783,  four  years  before  the 
adoption  of  the  Federal  Constitution,  and  six  years  before 
his  inauguration  as  President.] 

We  are  now  an  independent  people,  and  have 
yet  to  learn  political  tactics.  We  are  placed  among 
the  nations  of  the  earth,  and  have  a  character  to 
establish ;  but  how  we  shall  acquit  ourselves  time 
must  discover.  The  probability  is  (at  least  I  fear 
it),  that  local  or  state  politics  will  interfere  too 
much  with  the  more  liberal  and  extensive  plan  of 
government  which  wisdom  and  foresight  freed 
from  the  mist  of  prejudice,  would  dictate;  and 
that  we  shall  be  guilty  of  many  blunders  in  tread- 
ing this  boundless  theatre  before  we  shall  have 
arrived  at  any  perfection  in  this  art ;  in  a  word, 
that  the  experience  which  is  purchased  at  the  price 
of  difficulties  and  distress,  will  alone  convince  us, 
tliat  the  honor,  power,  and  true  interest  of  this 
country  must  be  measured  by  a  continental  scala, 
and  that  every  departure  therefrom  weakens  the 


GEORGE   WASHINGTON.  25 

Union,  and  may  ultimately  break  the  band  which 
holds  us  together.  To  avert  these  evils,  to  form 
a  new  constitution  that  will  give  consistency,  sta- 
bility, and  dignity  to  the  Union,  and  sufficient 
power  to  the  great  council  of  the  nation  for  gen- 
eral purposes,  is  a  duty  incumbent  on  every  man 
who  wishes  well  to  his  country,  and  will  meet 
with  my  aid  as  far  as  it  can  be  rendered  in  the  pri- 
vate walks  of  life. 


[From  a  letter  to  Robert  Morris.] 

MOUNT  VERNON,  12  April,  1786. 

I   hope  it  will  not  be  conceived  from 

these  observations  that  it  is  my  wish  to  hold  the 
unhappy  people  who  are  the  subject  of  this  letter, 
in  slavery.  I  can  only  say  that  there  is  not  a  man 
living  who  wishes  more  sincerely  than  I  do  to  see 
a  plan  adopted  for  the  abolition  of  it ;  but  there  is 
only  one  proper  and  effectual  mode  by  which  it  can 
be  accomplished,  and  that  is  by  legislative  author- 
ity ;  and  this,  as  far  as  my  suffrage  will  go,  shall 
never  be  wanting.  But  when  slaves  who  are 
happy  and  contented  with  their  present  masters 
are  tampered  with  and  seduced  to  leave  them; 
when  masters  are  taken  unawares  by-  these  prac- 
tices ;  when  a  conduct  of  this  kind  begets  discon- 
tent on.  one  side  and  resentment  on  the  other ;  and 
when  it  hapens  to  fall  on  a  man  whose  purse 


26  CHIPS   FROM   THE   WHITE   HOUSE. 

will  not  measure  with  that  of  the  society,  and 
he  loses  his  property  for  want  of  means  to  defend 
it ;  it  is  oppression  in  such  a  case,  and  not  human- 
ity in  any,  because  it  introduces  more  evils  than  it 
can  cure. 

[From  a  letter  to  Lafayette.] 

MOUNT  VERNON,  10  May,  1786. 

The   benevolence  of  your  heart,  my 

dear  Marquis,  is  so  conspicuous  upon  all  occasions 
that  I  never  wonder  at  any  fresh  proofs  of  it ;  but 
your  late  purchase  of  an  estate  in  the  colony  of 
Cayenne,  with  a  view  of  emancipating  the  slaves 
on  it,  is  a  generous  and  noble  proof  of  your  hu- 
manity. Would  to  God  a  like  spirit  might  dif- 
fuse itself  generally  into  the  minds  of  the  people 
of  this  country.  But  I  despair  of  seeing  it. 
Some  petitions  were  presented  to  the  Assembly  at 
its  last  session  for  the  abolition  of  slavery,  but 
they  could  scarcely  obtain  a  reading.  To  set  the 
slaves  afloat  at  once  would,  I  really  believe,  be  pro- 
ductive of  much  inconvenience  and  mischief;  but  by 
degrees  it  certainly  might,  and  assuredly  ought  to, 
be  effected,  and  that,  too,  by  legislative  authority. 

[From  a  letter  to  John  F.  Mercer.] 

September  9,  1786. 

I  never  mean,  unless  some  peculiar 

circumstances  should  compel  me  to  it,  to  possess 


GEORGE    WASHINGTON.  27 

another  slave  by  purchase,  it  being  among  my  first 
wishes  to  see  some  plan  adopted  by  which  slavery 
in  this  country  may  be  abolished  by  law. 


[From  a  letter  to  Henry  Knox,  1787.] 

It  is  among  the  evils,  and  perhaps  not  the 
smallest  of  democratical  governments,  that  the 
people  must  always  feel  before  they  will  see. 
When  this  happens  they  are  roused  to  action. 
Hence  it  is  that  those  kinds  of  government  are 
so  slow. 

[From  a  letter  to  David  Stuart.] 

PHILADELPHIA,  July  1,  1787. 

Happy,  indeed,  will  it  be,  if  the  con- 
vention shall  be  able  to  recommend  such  a  firm  and 
permanent  government  for  this  Union,  that  all  who 
live  under  it  may  be  secure  in  their  lives,  liberty, 
and  property ;  and  thrice  happy  would  it  be  if 
such  a  recommendation  should  obtain.  Every- 
body wishes,  everybody  expects  something  from 
the  convention ;  but  what  will  be  the  final  result 
of  its  deliberation,  the  book  of  fate  must  disclose. 
Persuaded  I  am  that  the  primary  cause  of  all  our 
disorders  lies  in  the  different  state  governments, 
and  in  the  tenacity  of  that  power  which  pervades 
the  whole  of  their  systems.  Whilst  independent 
sovereignty  is  so  ardently  contended  for ;  whilst 


28  cnirs  FROM  THE  WHITE  HOUSE. 

the  local  views  of  each  state,  and  separate  inter- 
ests by  which  they  are  too  much  governed,  will 
not  yield  to  an  enlarged  scale  of  politics,  incom- 
patibility in  the  laws  of  different  states,  and  disre- 
spect to  those  of  the  general  government,  must 
render  the  situation  of  this  great  country  weak, 
inefficient,  and  disgraceful.  It  has  already  done 
so,  almost  to  the  final  dissolution  of  it.* 

[From  a  letter  to  the  Marquis  cle  Chastellux.] 

MOUKT  VERNON,  25  April,  1788. 

MY  DEAR  MARQUIS  :  In  reading  your  very 
friendly  and  acceptable  letter,  which  came  to 
hand  by  the  last  mail,  I  was,  as  you  may  well 
suppose,  not  less  delighted  than  surprised  to 
meet  the  plain  American  words,  "  My  wife."  A 
wife  !  Well,  my  dear  Marquis,  I  can  hardly  re- 
frain from  smiling  to  find  you  arc  caught  at  last. 
I  saw  by  the  culogium  you  often  made  on  the  hap- 
piness of  domestic  life  in  America  that  you  had 
swallowed  the  bait,  and  that  you  would  as  surely 
be  taken,  one  day  or  another,  as  that  you  were  a 
philosopher  and  a  soldier.  So  your  day  has  at 
length  come.  I  am  glad  of  it  with  all  my  heart  and 
soul.  It  is  quite  good  enough  for  you.  Now  you 
arc  well  served  for  coming  to  fight  in  favor  of  the 
American  rebels  all  the  way  across  the  Atlantic 

*  The  present  constitution  went  into  full  operation  in  1789. 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON.  29 

Ocean,  by  catching  that  terrible  contagion,  domes- 
tic felicity,  which,  like  the  smallpox,  or  the 
plague,  a  man  can  have  only  once  in  his  life, 
because  it  commonly  lasts  him  (at  least,  with  us 
in  America  —  I  know  not  how  you  manage  these 
matters  in  France)  for  his  whole  lifetime.  And 
yet,  after  all,  the  worst  wish  which  I  can  find  in 
my  heart  to  make  against  Madame  de  Chas- 
tellux  and  yourself  is,  that  you  may  neither 
of  you  ever  get  the  better  of  this  same  domestic 
felicity  during  the  entire  course  of  your  mortal 
existence. 

If  so  wonderful  an  event  should  have  occasioned 
me,  my  dear  Marquis,  to  write  in  a  strange  style, 
you  will  understand  me  as  clearly  as  if  I  had  said, 
what  in  plain  English  is  the  simple  truth,  "Do  me 
the  justice  to  believe  that  I  take  a  heartfelt  inter- 
est in  whatsoever  concerns  your  happiness."  And, ' 
in  this  view,  I  sincerely  congratulate  you  on  your 
auspicious  matrimonial  connexion.  I  am  happy 
to  find  that  Madame  de  Chastellux  is  so  intimately 
connected  with  the  Duchess  of  Orleans  ;  as  I  have 
always  understood  that  this  noble  lady  was  an 
illustrious  example  of  connubial  love,  as  well  as 
an  excellent  pattern  of  virtue  in  general.  .  .  . 

P.  S.  May  1st.  Since  writing  the  above  I 
have  been  favored  with  a  duplicate  of  your  letter 
in  the  handwriting  of  a  lady,  and  cannot  close  this 
without  acknowledging  my  obligations  for  the 


30  CHIPS   FKOM  THE   WHITE   HOUSE. 

flattering  postscript  of  the  fair  transcriber.  In 
effect,  my  dear  Marquis,  the  characters  of  this  in- 
terpreter of  your  sentiments  are  so  much  fairer 
than  those  through  which  I  have  been  accustomed 
to  decipher  them,  that  I  already  consider  myself 
as  no  small  gainer  by  your  matrimonial  connexion  ; 
especially  as  I  hope  your  amiable  amanuensis  will 
not  forget  sometimes  to  add  a  few  annotations  of 
her  own  to  your  original  text. 

[From  a  letter  to  Lafayette.] 

MOUNT  VERXOX,  28  April,  1788. 

On  the  general  merits  of  this  proposed 

Constitution  [adopted  in  the  course  of  this  year] , 
I  wrote  to  you  some  time  ago  my  sentiments  pretty 
freely.  .  .  .  There  arc  other  points  in  which  opin- 
ions would  be  more  likely  to  vary ;  as,  for  in- 
stance, on  the  ineligibility  of  the  same  person  for 
President  after  he  should  have  served  a  certain 
course  of  years.  Guarded  so  effectually  as  the 
proposed  Constitution  is,  in  respect  to  the  preven- 
tion of  bribery  and  undue  influence  in  the  choice 
of  President,  I  confess  I  differ  widely  from  Mr. 
Joflcrson  and  you  as  to  the  expediency  or  neces- 
sity of  rotation  in  that  appointment.  The  matter 
was  fully  discussed  in  the  Convention,  and  to  my 
full  conviction,  though  I  cannot  have  time  or  room 
to  sum  up  the  arguments  in  this  letter.  There 
cannot,  in  n^y  judgment,  bo  the  least  danger  that 


GEORGE   WASHINGTON.  31 

the  President  will  by  any  practicable  intrigue  ever 
be  able  to  continue  himself  one  moment  in  office, 
much  less  to  perpetuate  himself  in  it,  but  in  the 
last  stage  of  corrupted  morals  and  political  de- 
pravity ;  and  even  then  there  is  as  much  danger 
that  any  other  species  of  domination  would  pre- 
vail. Though  when  a  people  shall  have  become 
incapable  of  governing  themselves,  and  fit  for  a 
master,  it  is  of  little  consequence  from  what  quar- 
ter he  comes.  Under  an  extended  view  of  this 
part  of  the  subject,  I  can  see  no  propriety  in  pre- 
cluding ourselves  from  the  services  of  any  man, 
who,  on  some  great  emergency,  shall  be  deemed 
universally  most  capable  of  serving  the  public. 

In  answer  to  the  observations  you  make  on  the 
probability  of  my  own  election  to  the  presidency,* 
knowing  me  as  you  do,  I  need  only  say,  that  it 
has  no  enticing  charms  and  no  fascinating  allure- 
ments for  me.  However,  it  might  not  be  decent 
for  me  to  say  I  would  refuse  to  accept,  or  even 
to  speak  much  about,  an  appointment  which  may 
never  take  place ;  for,  in  so  doing,  one  might  pos- 
sibly incur  the  application  of  the  moral  resulting 
from  that  fable  in  which  the  fox  is  represented  as 
inveighing  against  the  sourness  of  the  grapes,  be- 
cause he  could  not  reach  them.  All  that  it  will  be 
necessary  to  add,  my  dear  Marquis,  in  order  to 
show  my  decided  predilection,  is,  that  at  my  tune 

*  Washington  became  President  in  1789. 


32  CHIPS  FROM  THE   WHITE   HOUSE. 

of  life,*  and  under  my  circumstances,  the  increas- 
ing infirmities  of  nature  and  the  growing  love  of 
retirement  do  not  permit  me  to  entertain  a  wish 
beyond  that  of  living  and  dying  an  honest  man  on 
my  own  farm.  Let  those  follow  tho  pursuits  of 
ambition  and  fame  who  have  a  keener  relish  for 
them,  or  who  may  have  more  years  in  store  for 
the  enjoyment. 

[From  a  letter  to  Lafayette,  1788.] 

It  is  a  wonder  to  me  that  there  should  be  found 
a  single  monarch  wrho  does  not  realize  that  his  own 

O 

glory  and  felicity  must  depend  on  the  prosperity 
and  happiness  of  his  people.  How  easy  is  it  for 
a  sovereign  to  do  that  wrhich  shall  not  only  im- 
mortalize his  name,  but  attract  the  blessings  of 
millions. 

[From  the  same.] 

You  see  I  am  not  less  enthusiastic  than  I  ever 
have  been,  if  a  belief  that  peculiar  scenes  of 
felicity  are  reserved  for  tliis  country  is  to  be  de- 
nominated enthusiasm.  Indedtt,  I  do  not  believe 
that  Providence  has  done  so  much  for  nothing.  It 
has  always  been  my  creed,  that  we  should  not  be 
left  as  a  monument  to  prove  "that  mankind,  under 
tho  most  favorable  circumstances  for  civil  liberty 
and  happiness,  are  unequal  to  the  task  of  govern- 
ing themselves,  and  therefore  made  for  a  master." 
*  He  was  now  fifty-six. 


GEORGE   WASHINGTON.  33 

[From  a  letter  to  John  Lathrop,  1788.] 

How  pitiful,  in  the  eye  of  reason  and  religion, 
is  that  false  ambition  which  desolates  the  world 
with  fire  and  sword  for  the  purposes  of  conquest 
and  fame,  when  compared  to  the  milder  virtues 
of  making  our  neighbors  and  our  fellow-men  as 
happy  as  their  frail  conditions  and  perishable  na- 
tures will  permit  them  to  be  ! 

[To  Charles  Pettit,  16  August,  1788.] 

The  great  Searcher  of  hearts  is  my  wit- 
ness that  I  have  no  wish  which  aspires  beyond  the 
humble  and  happy  lot  of  living  and  dying  a  private 
citizen  on  my  own  farm. 

[To  Count  cle  Moustier,  15  December,  1788.] 

In  whatever  country  useful  inventions 

are  found  out,  and  improvements  made,  I  rejoice 
in  contemplating  that  those  inventions  or  improve- 
ments may,  in  some  way  or  other,  be  turned  to  the 
common  good  of  mankind. 

[To  Rev.  John  Lathrop,  22  June,  1788.] 

In  truth,  it  appears  to  me,  that,  should  the  pro- 
posed government  be  generally  and  harmoniously 
adopted,  it  will  be  a  new  phenomenon  in  the  politi- 
cal and  moral  world,  and  an  astonishing  victory 
gained  by  enlightened  reason  over  brutal  force. 

3 


34  CHIPS  FROM  THE   WHITE   HOUSE. 

[To  Benjamin  Lincoln,  29  June,  1788.] 
.....  No  one  can  rejoice  more  than  I  do  at 
every  step  the  people  of  this  great  country  take  to 
preserve  the  Union,  to  establish  good  order  and 
government,  and  to  render  the  nation  happy  at 
home  and  respectable  abroad.  No  nation  upon 
earth  ever  had  it  more  in  its  power  to  attain 
these  blessings  than  United  America.  TVondrously 
strange,  then,  and  much  to  be  regretted  indeed 
would  it  be,  were  we  to  neglect  the  means,  and 
to  depart  from  the  road,  which  Providence  has 
pointed  out  to  us  so  plainly.  I  cannot  believe  it 
will  ever  come"  to  pass.  The  great  Governor  of 
the  universe  has  led  us  too  long  and  too  far  on 
the  road  to  happiness  and  glory,  to  forsake  us  in 
the  midst  of  it.  By  folly  and  improper  conduct, 
proceeding  from  a  variety  of  causes,  we  may  now 
and  then  get  bewildered ;  but  I  hope  and  trust 
that  there  is  good  sense  and  virtue  enough  left  to 
recover  the  right  path  before  we  shall  be  entirely 
lost. 

[To  Lafayette,  29  July,  1789. 

If  I  know  my  own  heart,  nothing  short 

of  a  conviction  of  duty  will  induce  me  again  to 
take  an  active  part  in  public  affairs ;  and  in  that 
case,  if  I  can  form  a  plan  for  my  own  conduct,  mv 
endeavors  shall  be  unremittingly  exerted,  even  at 
the  hazard  of  former  fame  or  present  popularity, 


GEORGE   WASHINGTON.  35 

to  extricate  my  country  from  the  embarrassments 
in  which  it  is  entangled  through  want  of  credit ; 
and  to  establish  a  general  system  of  policy,  which, 
if  pursued,  will  ensure  permanent  felicity  to  the 
commonwealth.  I  think  I  see  a  path  as  clear  and 
as  direct  as  a  ray  of  light,  which  leads  to  the  at- 
tainment of  that  object.  Nothing  but  harmony, 
honesty,  industy,  and  frugality  are  necessary  to 
make  us  a  great  and  happy  people. 

[To  Benjamin  Harrison.] 

9  March,  1789. 

......  Men's  minds  are  as  variant  as  their  faces, 

and,  where  the  motives  of  their  actions  are  pure, 
the  operation  of  the  former  is  no  more  to  be  im- 
puted to  them  as  a  crime,  than  the  appearance  of 
the  latter ;  for  both,  being  the  work  of  nature,  are 
alike  unavoidable.  Liberality  and  charity,  instead 
of  clamor  and  misrepresentation,  ought  to  govern 
in  all  disputes  about  matters  of  importance. 

[To  Henry  Knox.] 

MOUNT  VERNON,  1  April,  1789. 

I   feel   for  those   members  of  the  new 

Congress  who  hitherto  have  given  an  unavailing 
attendance  at  the  theatre  of  action.*  For  myself, 
the  delay  may  be  compared  to  a  reprieve  ;  for,  in 

*  New  York  was  now,  temporarily,  the  capital.     Wash- 
ington was  inaugurated  April  30. 


36  CHIPS   FROM   THE   WHITE   HOUSE. 

confidence  I  tell  you,  (with  the  world  it  would 
obtain  little  credit,)  that  my  movements  to  the 
chair  of  government  will  be  accompanied  by  feel- 
ings not  unlike  those  of  a  culprit  who  is  going  to 
his  place  of  execution ;  so  unwilling  a:n  I,  in  the 
evening  of  a  life  nearly  consumed  in  public  cares,* 
to  quit  a  peaceful  abode  for  an  ocean  of  difficulties, 
without  that  competency  of  political  skill,  abilities 
and  inclination,  which  are  necessary  to  manage  the 
helm.  lam  sensible  that  I  am  embarking  the  voice 
of  the  people,  and  a  good  name  of  my  own,  on  this 
voyage  ;  but  what  returns  will  be  made  for  them, 
Heaven  alone  can  foretell.  Integrity  and  firmness 
are  all  that  I  can  promise.  These,  be  the  voyage 
long  or  short,  shall  never  forsake  me,  although  I 
may  be  deserted  by  all  men :  for  of  the  consola- 
tions which  are  to  be  derived  from  these,  under 
any  circumstances,  the  world  cannot  deprive  me. 

[From  his  Inaugural  Address.] 

April  30,  1789. 

FELLOW-CITIZENS  OF  THE   SENATE  AND  OF  THE 

HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES  :  — 

Among  the  vicissitudes  incident  to  life,  no  event 
could  have  filled  me  with  greater  anxieties  than 
that  of  which  the  notification  was  transmitted  by 
your  order,  and  received  on  the  fourteenth  day 
of  the  present  month.  On  the  one  hand  I  was 

*  He  was  now  fifty-seven  years  old. 


GEORGE   WASHINGTON.  37 

summoned  by  my  country,  whose  voice  I  can  never 
hear  but  with  veneration  and  love,  from  a  retreat 
which  I  had  chosen  with  the  fondest  predilection, 
and,  in  my  nattering  hopes,  with  an  immutable  de- 
cision, as  the  asylum  of  my  declining  years;  a 
retreat  which  was  rendered  every  day  more  neces- 
sary, as  well  as  more  dear  to  me,  by  the  addition 
of  habit  to  inclination,  and  by  frequent  interruptions 
of  my  health,  from  the  gradual  waste  committed 
on  it  by  time.  On  the  other  hand,  the  magnitude 
and  difficulty  of  the  trust  to  which  the  voice  of  my 
country  called  me,  being  sufficient  to  awaken  in  the 
wisest  and  most  experienced  of  her  citizens  a  dis- 
trustful scrutiny  into  his  qualifications,  could  not 
but  overwhelm  with  despondence  one  who,  inherit- 
ing inferior  endowments  from  nature,  and  unprac- 
tised in  the  duties  of  civil  administration,  ought  to 
be  peculiarly  conscious  of  his  own  deficiencies. 
In  this  conflict  of  emotions,  all  I  dare  aver  is,  that 
it  has  been  my  faithful  study  to  collect  my  duty 
from  a  just  appreciation  of  every  circumstance  by 
which  it  might  be  .affected.  All  I  dare  to  hope  is, 
that  if,  in  executing  this  task,  I  have  been  too  much 
swayed  by  a  grateful  remembrance  of  former  in- 
stances, or  by  an  affectionate  sensibility  to  this 
transcendent  proof  of  the  confidence  of  my  fellow- 
citizens,  and  have  thence  too  little  consulted  my 
incapacity  as  well  as  disinclination  for  the  weighty 
and  untried  cares  before  me,  my  error  will  be  pal- 


38  CHIPS   FROM   THE   WHITE   HOUSE. 

liated  by  the  motive  which  misled  me,  and  its  con- 
sequences be  judged  by  my  country  with  some 
share  of  the  partiality  in  which  they  originated. 

[To  his  nephew  George  S.  Washington.] 

MOUNT  VERNON,  23  March,  1789. 

DEAR  GEORGE  :  —  As  it  is  probable  that  I  shall 
soon  be  under  the  necessity  of  quitting  this  place, 
and  entering  once  more  into  the  bustle  of  public 
life,  in  conformity  to  the  voice  of  my  country,  and 
the  earnest  entreaty  of  my  friends,  however  con- 
trary it  is  to  my  own  desires  or  inclinations,  I 
think  it  a  duty  incumbent  on  me,  as  your  uncle 
and  friend,  to  give  you  some  advisory  hints,  which, 
if  properly  attended  to,  will,  I  conceive,  be  found 
very  useful  to  you  in  regulating  your  conduct,  and 
giving  you  respectability,  not  only  at  present,  but 
through  every  period  of  life. 

You  have  now  arrived  at  that  age  when  you  must 
quit  the  trifling  amusements  of  a  boy,  and  assume 
the  more  dignified  manners  of  a  man.  At  this  cri- 
sis your  conduct  will  attract  the  notice  of  those 
who  are  about  you ;  and,  as  the  first  impressions 
are  generally  the  most  lasting,  your  doings  now 
may  mark  the  leading  traits  of  your  character 
through  life.  It  is,  therefore,  absolutely  necessary, 
if  you  mean  to  make  any  figure  upon  the  stage  [of 
action] ,  that  you  should  take  the  first  steps  right. 
"What  those  steps  arc,  and  what  general  line  is  to 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON.  39 

be  pursued  to  lay  the  foundation  of  an  honorable 
and  happy  progress,  it  is  the  part  of  age  and  ex- 
perience to  point  out.  This  I  shall  do  as  far  as  is 
in  my  power,  with  the  utmost  cheerfulness,  and  I 
trust  that  your  own  good  sense  will  show  you  the 
necessity  of  following  it. 

The  first  and  great  object  with  you  at  present  is, 
to  acquire,  by  industry  and  application,  such 
knowledge  as  your  situation  enables  you  to  obtain, 
and  as  will  be  useful  to  you  in  life.  In  doing  this, 
two  other  important  advantages  will  be  gained, 
besides  the  acquisition  of  knowledge,  namely,  a 
habit  of  industry,  and  a  disrelish  for  that  profusion 
of  money  and  dissipation  of  time  which  are  ever 
attendant  upon  idleness.  I  do  not  mean  by  a  close 
application  to  your  studies,  that  you  should  never 
enter  into  those  amusements  which  are  suited  to 
your  age  and  station ;  they  can  be  made  to  go  hand 
in  hand  with  each  other,  and,  used  in  their  proper 
seasons,  will  ever  be  found  to  be  a  mutual  assist- 
ance to  one  another.  But  what  amusements,  and 
where  they  are  to  be  taken,  is  the  great  matter  to 
be  attended  to.  Your  own  judgment,  with  the 
advice  of  your  real  friends,  who  may  have  an  op- 
portunity of  a  personal  intercourse  with  you,  can 
point  out  the  particular  manner  in  which  you  may 
best  spend  your  moments  of  relaxation,  better  than 
I  can  at  a  distance.  One  thing,  however,  I  would 
strongly  impress  upon  you,  namely,  that  when  you 


40  CHIPS   FROM  THE   WHITE   HOUSE. 

have  leisure  to  go  into  company,  it  should  always 
be  of  the  best  kind  that  the  place  you  are  in  will 
afford ;  by  this  means  you  will  be  constantly  im- 
proving your  manners,  and  cultivating  your  mind, 
while  you  are  relaxing  from  your  books  ;  and  good 
company  will  ever  be  found  much  less  expensive 

than  bad 

I  cannot  enjoin  too  strongly  upon  you  a  due  ob- 
servance of  economy  and  frugality,  as  you  well 
know  yourself  the  present  state  of  your  property 
and  finances  will  not  admit  of  any  unnecessary  ex- 
pense. The  article  of  clothing  is  now  one  of  the 
chief  expenses  that  you  will  incur,  and  in  this  I 
fear  you  are  not  so  economical  as  you  should  be. 
Decency  and  cleanliness  will  always  be  the  first 
objects  in  the  dress  of  a  judicious  and  sensible 
man.  A  conformity  to  the  prevailing  fashion  in  a 
certain  degree  is  necessary ;  but  it  does  not  from 
thence  follow,  that  a  man  should  always  get  a  new 
coat  or  other  clothes  upon  every  trifling  change  in 
the  mode,  when  perhaps  he  has  two  or  three  very 
good  ones  by  him.  A  person  who .  is  anxious  to 
be  a  leader  of  the  fashion,  or  one  of  the  first  to 
follow  it,  will  certainly  appear  in  the  eyes  of  judic- 
ious men,  to  have  nothing  better  than  a  frequent 
change-  of  dress  to  recommend  him  to  notice.  I 
would  always  wish  you  to  appear  sufficiently 
decent  to  entitle  you  to  admission  into  any  com- 
pany where  you  may  be ;  but  your  own  knowledge 


GEORGE   WASHINGTON.  41 

must  convince  you,  that  you  should  be  as  little 
expensive  in  this  respect  as  you  properly  can. 
You  should  always  keep  some  clothes  to  wear  to 
church  or  on  particular  occasions,  which  should 
not  be  worn  every  day ;  this  can  be  done  without 
any  additional  expense,  for  whenever  it  is  neces- 
sary to  get  new  clothes,  those  which  have  been 
kept  for  particular  occasions  will  then  come  in  as 
every-day  ones,  unless  they  should  be  of  superior 

quality  to  the  new 

Mnch  more  might  be  said  to  you  as  a  young 
man,  upon  the  necessity  of  paying  a  due  attention 
to  the  moral  virtues  ;  but  this  may,  perhaps,  more 
properly  be  the  subject  of  a  future  letter  when  you 
may  be  about  to  enter  into  the  world.  If  you 
comply  with  the  advice  herein  given,  .  .  .  you 
will  find  but  few  opportunities  and  little  inclina- 
tion, while  you  continue  at  an  academy,  to  enter 
into  those  scenes  of  vice  or  dissipation  which  too 
often  present  themselves  to  youth  in  any  place, 
and  particularly  in  towns.  If  you  are  determined 
to  neglect  your  books,  and  plunge  into  extrava- 
gance and  dissipation,  nothing  I  could  now  say 
would  prevent  it ;  for  you  must  be  employed,  and 
if  it  is  not  in  pursuit  of  those  things  which  are 
profitable,  it  must  be  in  pursuit  of  those  things 
which  are  destructive. 


42  CHIPS   FROM  THE   WHITE   HOUSE. 


[Letter  to  General  Armstrong.] 

March  14,  1792. 

I  am  sure  there  never  was  a  people  who  had 
more  reason  to  acknowledge  a  divine  interposition 
in  their  affairs,  than  those  of  the  United  States  ;  * 
and  I  should  be  pained  to  believe  that  they  have 
forgotten  that  agency  which  was  so  often  manifested 
during  our  revolution,  or  that  they  failed  to  con- 
sider the  omnipotence  of  that  God  who  is  alone 
able  to  protect  them. 

[To  the  Members  of  the  New  Church  in  Baltimore.] 

January,  1793. 

We  have  abundant  reason  to  rejoice  that,  in  this 
land,  the  light  of  truth  and  reason  has  triumphed 
over  the  power  of  bigotry  and  superstition,  and 
that  every  person  may  here  worship  God  according 
to  the  dictates  of  his  own  heart.  In  this  enlight- 
ened age,  and  in  this  land  of  equal  liberty,  it  is 
our  boast,  that  a  man's  religious  tenets  will  not 
forfeit  the  protection  of  the  laws,  nor  deprive  him 
of  the  right  of  attaining  and  holding  the  highest 
offices  that  arc  known  in  the  United  States. 

[From  a  Speech  to  both  Houses  of  Congress.] 

December  8,  1795. 

While  we  indulge  the  satisfaction  which 

the  actual  condition  of  our  western  borders  so  well 

*  Referring  to  the  successful  progress  of  the  war. 


GEOKGS   WASHINGTON.  43 

authorizes,  it  is  necessary  that  we  should  not  lose 
sight  of  an  important  truth,  which  continually  re- 
ceives new  confirmation  ;  namely,  that  the  prjovis- 
ions  heretofore  made  with  a  view  to  the  protection 
of  the  Indians  from  the  violence  of  the  lawless 
part  of  our  frontier  inhabitants  are  insufficient.  It 
is  demonstrated  that  these  violences  can  now  be 
perpetrated  with  impunity ;  and  it  can  need  no  ar- 
gument to  prove  that,  unless  the  murdering  of  In- 
dians can  be  restrained  by  bringing  the  murderers 
to  condign  punishment,  all  the  exertions  of  the 
government  to  prevent  destructive  retaliations  by 
the  Indians  will  prove  fruitless.  The  frequent 
destruction  of  innocent  women  and  children,  who 
are  chiefly  the  victims  of  retaliation,  must  continue 
to  shock  humanity,  and  an  enormous  expense  to 
drain  the  treasury  of  the  Union. 

To  enforce  upon  the  Indians  the  observance  of 
justice  it  is  indispensable  that  there  should  be 
competent  means  of  rendering  justice  to  them. 
...  I  add,  with  pleasure,  that  the  probability  even 
of  their  civilization  is  not  diminished  by  the  ex- 
periments which  have  been  thus  far  made  under 
the  auspices  of  government.  The  accomplishment 
of  this  work,  if  practicable,  will  reflect  undecaying 
lustre  on  our  national  character,  and  administer 
the  most  grateful  consolation  that  virtuous  minds 
can  know. 


44  CHIPS   FEOM   THE    WHITE    HOUSE. 

[From  the  Farewell  Address  to  the  people  of  the  United 
States,  September  17,  1796.] 

Of  all  the  dispositions  and  habits  which  lead  to 
political  prosperity,  religion  and  morality  are  indis- 
pensable supports.  In  vain  would  that  man  claim 
the  tribute  of  patriotism  who  should  labor  to  sub- 
vert these  great  pillars  of  human  happiness,  these 
firmest  props  of  the  duties  of  men  and  citizens. 
The  mere  politician,  equally  with  the  pious  man, 
ought  to  respect  and  to  cherish  them.  A  volume 
could  not  trace  all  their  connections  with  private 
and  public  felicity.  .  .  .  And  let  us,  with  cau- 
tion, indulge  the  supposition  that  morality  can  be 
maintained  without  reli<rion.  Whatever  mav  be 

J 

conceded  to  the  influence  of  refined  education  on 
minds  of  peculiar  structure,  reason  and  experience 
both  forbid  us  to  expect  that  national  morality  can 
prevail  in  exclusion  of  religious  principle. 


JOHN    ADAMS.  45 


JOHN    ADAMS. 

BORN,  1735;  DIED,  1826,  AGED  «L  —  GRADUATED  AT  HABTARD 
COLLEGE,  1755.— TAUGHT  A  GRAMMAR  SCHOOL,  1755.— BEGAN 
PRACTICE  OF  LAW,  1758.— REPRESENTATIVE  IX  THE  GEN- 
ERAL COURT  OF  MASSACHUSETTS,  KTOi— DELEGATE  TO  THE 
CONGRESS  OF  177 4.  —  TO  THE  COXTTNEXTAL  COXGRESS,  1775.— 
PRESIDEXT  OF  BOARD  OF  WAR  AXD  ORDINANCE,  K7&.  —COM- 
MISSIONER TO  FRANCE,  1777. — MEMBER  OF  COXVENTION  TO 
FRAME  A  COXSTITUTIOX  FOR  MASSACHUSETTS,  177«.— MTN- 
ISTER  TO  GREAT  BRITAIN,  1773—  MINISTER  TO  HOLLAND, 
1780.— MINISTER  TO  GREAT  BRITAIN,  K8&— MEMBER  OFTHE 
COXTIXENTAL  CONGRESS,  1188.  —  VICE-PRESIDENT,  1789.— 
RE-ELECTED,  1792.  —  PRESIDENT,  1797-lHtt. 

[From  a  letter  to  His.  Adams,  at  Brain  tree.] 

BOSTOS,  12  Mar,  1774. 

WE  lire,  my  dear  soul,  in  an  age  of 

trial.  What  will  be  the  consequence,  I  know  not. 
The  town  of  Boston,  for  aught  I  can  see,  must 
suffer  martyrdom.  It  must  expire.  And  our 
principal  consolation  is,  that  it  dies  in  a  noble 
cause — the  cause  of  truth,  of  virtue,  of  liberty, 
and  of  humanity,  and  thus  it  will  probably  have  a 
glorious  resurrection  to  greater  wealth,  splendor, 
and  power  than  ever. 

Let  me  know  what  is  best  for  me  to  do.  It  is 
expensive  keeping  a  family  here,  and  there  is  no 
prospect  of  any  business  hi  my  way  hi  this  town 
this  whole  summer.  I  dont  receive  a  shilling  a 
week.  We  must  contrive  as  many  ways  as  we 
can  to  save  expenses :  for  we  may  have  calls  to 
contribute  very  largely,  in  proportion  to  our  cir- 


46  CHIPS   FROM   THE    WHITE    HOUSE. 

cumstances,  to  prevent  other  very  honest,  worthy 
people  from  suffering  for  want,  besides  our  own 
loss  in  point  of  business  and  profit. 

Don't  imagine  from  all  this  that  I  am  in  the 
dumps.  Far  otherwise.  I  can  truly  say  that  I 
have  felt  more  spirits  and  activity  since  the  arrival 
of  this  news  than  I  had  done  before  for  years.  I 
look  upon  this  as  the  last  effort  of  Lord  North's 
despair,  and  he  will  as  surely  be  defeated  in  it  as 
he  was  in  the  project  of  the  tea. 

[From  a  letter  to  James  Waterhouse.] 
It  has  been,  in  all  times,  the  artifice  of  despot- 
ism and  superstition  to  nip  liberty,  truth,  virtue, 
and  religion  in  the  bud,  by  cutting  off  the  heads 
of  all  who  dared  to  show  regard  to  either.  But 
when  a  process  so  summary  could  not  be  effected, 
the  next  trick  was  to  blast  the  character  of  every 
rising  genius  who  excited  their  jealousy,  by  propa- 
gating lies  and  slanders  to  destroy  his  influence. 

[From  a  letter  to  J.  II.  Tiffany.] 

I  would  define  liberty  to  be  a  power  to  do  as  we 
would  be  done  by. 

I  advise  every  young  man  to  keep  school.  I 
acquired  more  knowledge  of  human  nature  while 
I  kept  school  than  while  I  was  at  the  bar,  than 
while  I  was  in  the  world  of  politics  or  at  the  Courts 
of  Europe.  It  is  the  best  method  of  acquiring 
patience,  self-command,  and  a  knowledge  of  char- 
ter. JOHN  ADAMS. 


JOHN    ADAMS.  47 


[Letter  to  Mrs.  Adams,  at  Braintree.  Reference  is  had  to 
serious  interruptions  in  his  legal  business,  in  Boston,  from 
his  political  principles.] 

YORK  [MAINE],  1  July,  1774. 

I  am  so  idle  that  I  have  not  an  easy  moment 
without  my  pen  is  in  my  hand.  My  time  [at 
home]  might  have  been  improved  to  some  purpose 
in  mowing  grass,  raking  hay,  or  hoeing  corn, 
weeding  carrots,  picking  or  shelling  pease.  Much 
better  should  I  have  been  employed  in  schooling 
my  children,  in  teaching  them  to  write,  cipher, 
Latin,  French,  English,  and  Greek. 

I  sometimes  think  I  must  come  to  this  —  to  be 
the  foreman  upon  my  own  farm,  and  the  school- 
master to  my  own  children.  I  confess  myself  to 
be  full  of  fears  that  the  ministry  and  their  friends 
and  instruments  will  prevail,  and  crush  the  cause 
and  friends  of  liberty.  The  minds  of  that  party 
are  so  filled  with  prejudices  sgainst  me  that  they 
will  take  all  advantages,  and  do  me  all  the  damage 
they  can.  These  thoughts  have  their  turns  in  my 
mind,  but  in  general  my  hopes  are  predominant. 

Dr.  Gardiner  arrived  here  to-day  from  Boston, 
brings  us  news  of  a  battle  at  the  town  meeting, 
between  Whigs  and  Tories,  in  which  the  Whigs, 
after  a  day  and  a  half's  obstinate  engagement,  were 
finally  victorious  by  two  to  one.  He  says  the 
Tories  are  preparing  a  flaming  protest. 


48  CHIPS   FEOM   THE   WHITE   HOUSE. 

I  am  determined  to  be  cool,  if  I  can.  I  have 
suffered  such  torments  in  my  mind  heretofore  as 
have  almost  overpowered  my  constitution,  without 
any  advantage.  And  now  I  will  laugh  and  be  easy 
if  I  can,  let  the  contest  of  parties  terminate  as  it 
•will ;  nay,  whether  I  stand  high  or  low  in  the  esti- 
mation of  the  world,  so  long  as  I  keep  a  conscience 
void  of  offence  towards  God  and  man.  And  this 
I  am  determined,  by  the  will  of  God,  to  do,  let 
what  will  become  of  me  or  mine,  my  country  or 
the  world. 

I  shall  arouse  myself  ere  long,  I  believe,  and 
exert  an  industry,  a  frugality,  a  hard  labor,  that 
will  serve  my  family,  if  I  can't  serve  my  country. 
I  will  not  lie  down  in  despair.  If  I  cannot  servo 
my  children  by  the  law,  I  will  serve  them  by  agri- 
culture, by  trade,  by  some  way  or  other.  I  thank 
God  I  have  a  head,  and  heart,  and  hands,  which 
if  once  fully  exerted  altogether,  will  succeed  in  the 
world  as  well  as  those  of  the  mean-spirited,  low- 
minded,  fawning,  obsequious  scoundrels  who  have 
long  hoped  that  my  integrity  would  be  an  obstacle 
in  my  \\ay,  and  enable  them  to  outstrip  me  in  the 
race.  But  what  I  want  in  comparison  of  them  of 
villany  and  servility,  I  will  make  up  in  industry 
and  capacity.  If  I  don't,  they  shall  laugh  and 
triumph.  I  will  not  willingly  see  blockheads, 
whom  I  have  a  right  to  despise,  elevated  above 
me  and  insolently  triumphing  over  me.  Nor  shall 


JOHN   ADAMS.  49 

knavery,  through  any  negligence  of  mine,  get  the 
better  of  honesty,  nor  ignorance  of  knowledge,  nor 
folly  of  wisdom,  nor  vice  of  virtue. 

I  must  entreat  you,  my  dear  partner  in  all  the 
joys  and  sorrows,  prosperity  and  adversity  of  my 
life,  to  take  a  part  with  me  in  the  struggle.  I 
pray  God  for  your  health — entreat  you  to  rouse 
your  whole  attention  to  the  family,  the  stock,  the 
farm,  the  dairy.  Let  every  article  of  expense 
which  can  possibly  be  spared  be  retrenched ;  keep 
the  hands  attentive  to  their  business,  and  the  most 
prudent  measures  of  every  kind  be  adopted  and 
pursued  with  alacrity  and  spirit. 

[To  Mrs.  Adams,  at  Braintree ;  written  while  on  his  way  to 
Philadelphia,  as  a  delegate  to  Congress.] 

PRINCETON,  NEW  JERSEY,  28  August,  1774. 

I  received  your  kind  letter  at  New  York,  and  it 
is  not  easy  for  you  to  imagine  the  pleasure  it  has 
given  me.  I  have  not  found  a  single  opportunity 
to  write  you  since  I  left  Boston,  excepting  by  the 
post,  and  I  don't  choose  to  write  by  that  convey- 
ance for  fear  of  foul  play.  But  as  we  are  now 
within  forty-two  miles  of  Philadelphia,  I  hope  there 
to  find  some  private  hand  by  which  I  can  convey 
this. 

The  particulars  of  our  journey  I  must  reserve, 
to  be  communicated  after  my  return.  It  would 
take  a  volume  to  describe  the  whole.  It  has  been, 


50  CHIPS   FKOM   THE   WHITE    HOUSE. 

upon  the  whole,  an  agreeable  jaunt.  We  have 
had  opportunities  to  see  the  world,  and  to  form 
acquaintance  with  the  most  eminent  and  famous 
men  in  the  several  colonies  we  have  passed 
through.  We  have  been  treated  with  unbounded 
civility,  complaisance,  and  respect.  We  yester- 
day visited  Nassau  Hall  College,  and  were  politely 
treated  by  the  scholars,  tutors,  professors,  and 
president,  whom  we  are  this  day  to  hear  preach. 
To-morrow  we  reach  the  theatre  of  action. 
God  Almighty  grant  wisdom  and  virtue  suffi- 
cient for  the  high  trust  that  is  devolved  upon  us. 
The  spirit  of  the  people,  wherever  we  have  been, 
seems  to  be  very  favorable.  They  universally 
consider  our  cause  as-  their  own,  and  express  the 
firmest  resolution  to  abide  by  the  determination 
of  the  Congress. 

I  am  anxious  for  our  perplexed,  distressed 
province  ;  hope  they  will  be  directed  into  the  right 
path.  Let  me  entreat  you,  my  dear,  to  make 
yourself  as  easy  and  quiet  as  possible.  Resigna- 
tion to  the  will  of  heaven  is  our  only  resource  in 
such  dangerous  times.  Prudence  and  caution 
should  be  our  guides.  I  have  the  strongest  hopes 
that  we  shall  yet  see  a  clearer  sky  and  better 
times. 

Remember  my  tender  love  to  little  Abby ;  tell 
her  she  must  write  me  a  letter,  and  inclose  it  in 
the  next  you  send.  I  am  charmed  with  your 


JOHN   ADAMS.  51 

amusement  with  our  little  Johnny.*  Tell  him  I 
am  glad  to  hear  he  is  so  good  a  boy  as  to  read  to 
his  mamma  for  her  entertainment,  and  to  keep  him- 
self out  of  the  company  of  rude  children.  Tell 
him  I  hope  to  hear  a  good  account  of  his  accidence 
and  nomenclature  when  I  return.  .  .  .  Your  ac- 
count of  the  rain  refreshed  me.  I  hope  our  hus- 
bandry is  prudently  and  industriously  managed. 
Frugality  must  be  our  support.  Our  expenses  in 
this  journey  will  be  very  great.  Our  only  [rec- 
ompense will]  be  the  consolatory  reflection  that 
we  toil,  spend  our  time,  and  [encounter]  dangers 
for  the  public  good, — happy,  indeed,  if  we  do 
any  good. 

The  education  of  our  children  is  never  out  of 
my  mind.«  Train  them  to  virtue.  Habituate  them 
to  industry,  activity,  and  spirit.  Make  them  con- 
sider every  vice  as  shameful  and  unmanly.  Fire 
them  with  ambition  to  be  useful.  Make  them  dis- 
dain to  be  destitute  of  any  useful  or  ornamental 
knowledge  or  accomplishment.  Fix  their  ambition 
upon  great  and  solid  objects,  and  their  contempt 
upon  little,  frivolous,  and  useless  ones.  It  is 
time,  my  dear,  for  you  to  begin  to  teach  them 
French.  .  Every  decency,  grace,  and  honesty 
should  be  inculcated  upon  them.  ...  I  am,  with 
the  tenderest  affection  and  concern, 
Your  wandering 

JOHN  ADAMS. 

*  John  Quincy  Adams. 


52  CHIPS  FROM   THE   WHITE   HOUSE. 

[Letter  to  Mrs.  Adams,  at  Braintrce.] 

PHILADELPHIA,  16  September,  1774. 

Having  a  leisure  moment  while  the  Congress  is 
assembling,  I  gladly  embrace  it  to  write  you  a  line. 

When  the  Congress  first  met,  Mr.  Gushing 
made  a  motion  that  it  should  be  opened  with 
prayer.  It  was  opposed  by  Mr.  Jay  of  New 
York,  and  Mr.  Eutledge  of  South  Carolina,  be- 
cause we  were  so  divided  in  religious  sentiments,  — 
some  Episcopalians,  some  Quakers,  some  Anabap- 
tists, some  Presbyterians,  and  some  Congrcgation- 
alists,  — that  we  could  not  join  in  the  same  act  of 
worship.  Mr.  Samuel  Adams  arose  and  said  he 
was  no  bigot,  and  could  hear  a  prayer  from  a  gen- 
tleman of  piety  and  virtue,  who  was  at  the  same 
time  a  friend  to  his  country.  He  was  a  Stranger  in 
Philadelphia,  but  had  heard  that  Mr.  Ducho  (Du- 
shay,  they  pronounce  it)  deserved  that  character, 
and  therefore  he  moved  that  Mr.  Duchc,  an  Epis- 
copal clergyman,  might  be  desired  to  read  prayers 
to  the  Congress  to-morrow  morning.  The  motion 
was  seconded,  and  passed  in  the  affirmative.  Mr. 
Randolph,  our  president,  waited  on  Mr.  Duch6,  and 
received  for  answer  that  if  his  health  wrould  per- 
mit he  certainly  would.  Accordingly,  next  morn- 
ing, he  appeared  with  his  clerk,  and  in  his  pontifi- 
cals, and  read  several  prayers  in  the  established 
form ;  and  then  read  the  Collect  for  the  seventh 
day  of  September,  which  was  the  thirty-fifth 


JOHN   ADAMS.  53 

psalm.  You  must  remember  that  this  was  the 
next  morning  after  we  heard  the  horrible  rumor 
of  the  cannonade  of  Boston.  I  never  saw  a 
greater  effect  upon  an  audience.  It  seemed  as  if 
heaven  had  ordained  that  psalrn  to  be  read  on  that 
morning. 

After  this,  Mr.  Duche,  unexpected  to  every- 
body, struck  out  into  an  extemporary  prayer, 
which  filled  the  bosom  of  every  man  present.  I 
must  confess  I  never  heard  a  better  prayer,  or  one 
so  well  pronounced.  Episcopalian  as  he  is,  Dr. 
Cooper*  himself  never  prayed  with  such  fervor, 
such  ardor,  such  earnestness  and  pathos,  and  in 
language  so  eloquent  and  sublime,  — for  America, 
for  the  Congress,  for  the  Province  of  Massachu- 
setts Bay,  and  especially  the  town  of  Boston.  It 
has  had  an  excellent  effect  upon  everybody  here. 
I  must  beg  you  to  read  that  psalm.  If  there  was 
any  faith  in  the  Sortes  Biblicae,  it  would  be 
thought  providential. 

It  will  amuse  your  friends  to  read  this  letter 
and  the  thirty-fifth  psalm  to  them.  Read  it  to 
your  father  and  Mr.  Wibird.  I  wonder  what  our 
Braintree  churchmen  will  think  of  this !  Mr. 
Duche  is  one  of  the  most  ingenious  men,  and  best 
characters,  and  greatest  orators  in  the  Episcopal 

*  Pastor  of  the  Brattle  Square  church,  Boston,  and  a 
zealous  patriot. 


54  CHIPS   FROM   THE    WHITE   HOUSE. 

order,  upon  the  continent,  yet  a  zealous  friend  of 
liberty  and  his  country.* 

I  long  to  see  my  dear  family.  God  bless,  pre- 
serve, and  prosper  it.  Adieu. 

[From  a  letter  to  Mrs.  Adams.] 

7  October,  1775. 

.  .  .  The  situation  of  things  is  so  alarming,  that 
it  is  our  duty  to  prepare  our  minds  and  hearts  for 
every  event,  even  the  worst.  From  my  earliest 
entrance  into  life,  I  have  been  engaged  in  the 
public  cause  of  America,  and  from  first  to  last,  I 
have  had  upon  my  mind  a  strong  impression  that 
things  would  be  wrought  up  to  their  present  crisis. 
I  saw,  from  the  beginning,  that  the  controversy 
was  of  such  a  nature  that  it  never  would  be 
settled,  and  every  day  convinces  me  more  and 
more.  This  has  been  the  source  of  all  the  disqui- 
etude of  my  life.  It  has  lain  down  and  risen  up 
with  me  these  twelve  years.  The  thought  that  we 
might  be  driven  to  the  sad  necessity  of  breaking 
our  connection  with  Great  Britain,  exclusive  of 
the  carnage  and  destruction  which,  it  was  easy  to 
see,  must  attend  the  separation,  always  gave  me  a 
great  deal  of  grief.  And  even  now,  I  would 
cheerfully  retire  from  public  life  forever,  renounce 

*  Three  years  later,  Mr.  Adams  wrote:  "Mr.  Duche,  I 
am  sorry  to  inform  you,  has  turned  out  an  apostate  and 
traitor.  I  pity  his  weakness,  and  detest  his  wickedness." 


JOHN   ADAMS.  55 

all  chance  for  profits  or  honors  from  the  public, 
nay,  I  would  cheerfully  contribute  my  little  prop- 
erty to  obtain  peace  and  liberty.  But  all  these 
must  go,  and  my  life  too,  before  I  can  surrender 
the  right  of  my  country  to  a  free  constitution.  I 
dare  not  consent  to  it.  I  should  be  the  most  mis- 
erable of  mortals  ever  after,  whatever  honors  or 
emoluments  might  surround  me. 

[Letter  to  George  Wythe.] 

January,  1776. 

You  and  I,  my  dear  friend,  have  been  sent  into 
life  at  a  time  when  'the  greatest  lawgivers  of  an- 
tiquity would  have  wished  to  live.  How  few  of 
the  human  race  have  ever  enjoyed  an  opportunity 
of  making  an  election  of  government  more  than  of 
air,  soil,  or  climate,  for  themselves  or  their  chil- 
dren? When,  before  the  present  epocha,  had  three 
millions  of  people  full  power  and  a  fair  oppor- 
tunity to  form  and  establish  the  wisest  and  hap- 
piest government  that  human  wisdom  can  contrive  ? 


Genius,  in  a  general,  is  oftener  an  instrument 
of  divine  vengeance  than  a  guardian  angel. 

[To  Mrs.  Adams.] 

PHILADELPHIA,  23  April,  177G. 

This  is  St.  George's  Day.  .  .  .  The  natives  of 
Old  England  in  this  city  heretofore  formed  a  so- 
ciety, which  they  called  St.  George's  Club.  Upon 


56  CHIPS   FROM   THE    WHITE    HOUSE. 

the  23d  of  April,  annually,  they  had  a  great  feast. 
But  the  Tories  and  politics  have  made  a  schism  in 
the  society,  so  that  one  part  of  them  are  to  meet 
and  dine  at  the  City  Tavern,  and  the  other  at  the 
Bunch  of  Grapes.  Israel  Jacobs  and  a  third  party 
go  out  of  town.  One  set  are  stanch  Americans, 
another  stanch  Britons,  and  a  third  half-way  men, 
neutral  beings,  moderate  men,  prudent  folks ;  for 
such  is  the  division  among  men  upon  all  occasions 
and  every  question.  This  is  the  account  which  I 
have  from  my  barber,  who  is  one  of  the  society, 
and  zealous  on  the  side  of  America. 

This  curious  character  of  a  barber  I  have  a  great 
inclination  to  draw  for  your  amusement.  He  is  a 
little,  dapper  fellow,  short  and  small,  but  active 
and  lively.  A  tongue  as  voluble  and  fluent  as  you 
please,  wit  at  will,  and  a  memory  or  an  invention 
which  never  leaves  him  at  a  loss  for  a  story  to  tell 
you  for  your  entertainment.  He  has  seen  great  com- 
pany. He  has  dressed  hair  and  shaved  faces  at 
Bath,  and  at  court.  Pie  is  acquainted  with  several 
of  the  nobility  and  gentry,  particularly  Sir  William 
Meredith.  He  married  a  girl,  the  daughter  of  a 
Quaker  in  this  place,  of  whom  he  tells  many  droll 
stories.  He  is  a  sergeant  in  one  of  the  companies 
of  some  battalion  or  other  here.  He  frequents,  of 
evenings,  a  beer-house  kept  by  one  Weaver,  in  the 
city,  where  ho  has  many  curious  disputes  and  ad- 
ventures, and  meets  many  odd  characters. 


JOHN   ADAMS.  57 

I  believe  you  will  think  me  very  idle  to  write 
you  so  trifling  a  letter,  upon  so  uninteresting  a 
subject,  at  a  time  when  my  country  is  fight- 
ing pro  aris  et  focis.  But  I  assure  you  I  am 
glad  to  chat  with  this  barber  while  he  is  shaving 
and  combing  me,  and  to  divert  myself  from  less 
agreeable  thoughts.  He  is  so  sprightly  and  good 
humored  that  he  contributes  more  than  I  could 
have  imagined  to  my  comfort  in  this  life.  Burne 
has  prepared  a  string  of  toasts  for  the  club  to 
drink  to-day  at  Israel's :  "  The  Thirteen  United 
Colonies,"  "  The  Free  and  Independent  States  of 
America,"  "  The  Congress  for  the  time  being," 
"  The  American  Army  and  Navy,"  "  The  Gover- 
nor and  Council  of  South  Carolina,"  etc.,  etc., 
etc.  "  A  happy  election  for  the  Whigs  on  the  1st 
of  May,"  etc. 

PHILADELPHIA,  23  April,  1777. 

My  barber  has  just  left  the  chamber.  The  fol- 
lowing curious  dialogue  was  the  amusement  during 
the  gay  moments  of  shaving  : 

"  Well,  Burne,  what  is  the  lie  of  the  day?" 

"  Sir,  Mr. told  me  that  a  privateer  from 

Baltimore  has  taken  two  valuable  prizes  with  six- 
teen guns  each.  I  can  scarcely  believe  it." 

"  Have  you  heard  of  the  success  of  the  Rattle- 
snake, of  Philadelphia,  and  the  Sturdy  Beggar, 
of  Maryland,  Mr.  Burne?  These  two  privateers 
have  taken  eleven  prizes,  and  sent  them  into  the 


58  CHIPS   FROM   THE    WHITE    HOUSE. 

West   India    Islands ;    nine    transports   and    two 
Guinea-men." 

"  Confound  the  ill  luck,  sir ;  I  was  going  to  sea 
myself  on  board  the  Rattlesnake,  and  my  wife  fell 
a  yelping.  These  wives  are  queer  things.  I  told 
her  I  wondered  she  had  no  more  ambition.  '  Now,' 
says  I,  '  when  you  walk  the  streets,  and  anybody 
asks  who  that  is,  the  answer  is  "  J3urne  the  bar- 
ber's wife"  Should  you  not  be  better  pleased  to 
hear  it  said,  "That  is  Captain  Burners  lady,  the 
captain  of  marines  on  board  the  Rattlesnake  ?  " 
'Oh,'  says  she,  'I  would  rather  be  called  Burne 
the  barber's  wife  than  Captain  Burne's  widow.  I 
don't  desire  to  live  better  than  you  maintain  me, 
my  dear.'  So  it  is,  Sir,  by  this  sweet,  honey  lan- 
guage, I  am  choused  out  of  my  prizes,  and  must 
go  on  with  my  soap  and  razors  and  pincers  and 
combs.  I  wish  she  had  my  ambition." 

If  this  letter  be  intercepted  by  the  Tories,  they 
will  get  a  booty.  Let  them  enjoy  it.  If  some  of 
their  wives  had  been  as  tender  and  discreet  as  the 
barber's,  their  husbands'  ambition  would  not  have 
led  them  into  so  many  salt-ponds.  What  an  ignis 
faluus  this  ambition  is !  How  few  of  either  sex 
have  arrived  at  Mrs.  Burne's  pitch  of  moderation, 
and  arc  able  to  say,  "  I  don't  desire  to  live  better, 
and  had  rather  be  the  barber's  wife  than  the  cap- 
tain's widow  1  "  Quite  smart,  I  think,  as  well  as 
philosophical. 


JOHN    ADAMS.  59 

[From  a  letter  to  Mrs.  Adams.] 

BALTIMORE,  15  Feb.  1777. 

We  have,    (in  Congress,)   from  New 

Hampshire,  a  Colonel  Thornton,  a  physician  by 
profession,  a  man  of  humor.  He  has  a  large  bud- 
get of  droll  stories,  with  which  he  entertains' com- 
pany perpetually.  I  heard,  about  twenty,  or  five- 
and-twenty,  years  ago,  a  story  of  a  physician  in 
Londonderry,  who  accidentally  met  with  one  of  our 
New  England  enthusiasts,  called  exhorters.  The 
fanatic  soon  began  to  examine  the  doctor  concern- 
ing the  articles  of  his  faith,  and  what  he  thought 
of  original  sin.  "  Why,"  says  the  doctor,  "I  sat- 
isfy myself  about  it  in  this  manner.  Either  orig- 
inal sin  is  divisible  or  indivisible.  If  it  is  divisible, 
every  descendant  of  Adam  and  Eve  must  have  a 
part,  and  the  share  which  falls  to  each  individual 
at  this  day  is  so  small  a  particle  that  I  think  it  is 
not  worth  considering.  If  indivisible,  then  the 
whole  quantity  must  have  descended  in  a  right 
line,  and  must  now  be  possessed  by  one  person 
only ;  and  the  chances  are  millions  and  millions 
and  millions  to  one  that  that  person  is  now  in 
Asia  or  Africa,  and  that  I  have  nothing  to  do 
with  it."  I  told  Thornton  the  story,  and  that  I 
suspected  him  to  be  the  man.  He  said  he  was. 
He  belongs  to  Londonderry. 


60  CHIPS   FROM    THE    WHITE    HOUSE. 

[To  Mrs.  Adams.] 

PHILADELPHIA,  20  August,  1777. 

This  day  completes  three  years  since  I  stepped 
into  the  coach  at  Mr.  Cushing's  door,  in  Boston, 
to  go  to  Philadelphia  in  quest  of  adventures ;  and 
adventures  I  have  found.  I  feel  an  inclination 
sometimes  to  write  the  history  of  these  last  three 
years,  in  imitation  of  Thucydides.  There  is  a 
striking  resemblance  in  several  particulars  between 
the  Peloponnesian  and  the  American  war.  The 
real  motive  to  the  former  was  a  jealousy  of  the 
growing  power  of  Athens  by  sea  and  land.  The 
genuine  motive  to  the  latter  was  a  similar  jealousy 
of  the  growing  power  of  America.  The  true 
causes  which  incite  to  war  are  seldom  professed 
or  acknowledged. 

We  are  now  upon  a  full  sea ;  wrhen  we  shall  ar- 
rive at  a  safe  harbor,  no  mariner  has  skill  and  ex- 
perience enough  to  foretell.  But  by  the  favor  of 
Heaven  we  shall  make  a  prosperous  voyage,  after 
all  the  storms  and  shoals  are  passed. 

[To  Patrick  Henry.] 

PHILADELPHIA,  3  June,  1776. 

The  dons,  the  bashaws,  the  grandees, 

the  patricians,  the  sachems,  the  nabobs,  call  them 
by  what  name  you  please,  sigh,  and  groan,  and 
fret,  and  sometimes  stamp,  and  foam,  and  curse, 
but  all  in  vain.  The  decree  is  gone  forth,  and  it 


JOHN    ADAMS.  61 

cannot  be  recalled,  that  a  more  equal  liberty  than 
has  prevailed  in  other  parts  of  the  earth,  must  be 
established  in  America.  That  exuberance  of  pride 
which  has  produced  an  insolent  domination  in  a 
few,  a  very  few,  opulent,  monopolizing  families, 
will  be  brought  down  nearer  to  the  confines  of 
reason  and  moderation,  than  they  have  been  used 
to.  This  is  all  the  evil  which  they  themselves  will 
endure.  It  will  do  them  good  in  this  world,  and 
in  every  other.  For  pride  was  not  made  for  man, 
only  as  a  tormentor. 

3  July,  1776. 

But  the  day  is  past.  The  second  day  * 

of  July,  1776,  will  be  the  most  memorable  epocha 
in  the  history  of  America.  I  am  apt  "to  believe 
that  it  will  be  celebrated  by  succeeding  genera- 
tions as  a  great  anniversary  festival.  It  ought 
to  be  commemorated,  as  the  day  of  deliverance, 
by  solemn  acts  of  devotion  to  Almighty  God.  It 
ought  to  be  solemnized  with  pomp  and  parade, 
with  shows,  games,  sports,  guns,  bells,  bonfires, 
and  illuminations,  from  one  end  of  this  continent 
to  another,  from  this  time  forward,  for  evermore. 

You  will  think  me  transported  with  enthusiasm, 
but  I  am  not.  I  am  well  aware  of  the  toil,  and 
blood,  and  treasure,  that  it  will  cost  us  to  maintain 

*  The  Declaration  of  Independence  was  agreed  to  on  the 
second  day  of  July,  but  not  formally  approved  and  signed 
till  the  fourth. 


62  CHIPS   FROM    THE    WHITE    HOUSE. 

this  declaration,  and  support  and  defend  these 
states.  Yet,  through  all  the  gloom,  I  can  see  the 
rays  of  ravishing  light  and  glory.  I  can  see  that 
the  end  is  worth  more  than  all  the  means,  and  that 
posterity  will  triumph  in  that  day's  transactions, 
even  although  we  should  rue  it,  which  I  trust  in 
God  we  shall  not. 

[To  Mrs.  Adams.] 

PASST,  3  June,  1778. 

On  the  13th  of  February  I  left  you.*  It  is  now 
the  3d  of  June,  and  I  have  not  received  a  line  nor 
heard  a  word,  directly  or  indirectly,  concerning 
you,  since  my  departure.  This  is  a  situation  of 
mind  in  which  I  never  was  before,  and  I  assure 
you  I  feel  a  great  deal  of  anxiety  at  it ;  yet  I  do 
not  wonder  at  it,  because  I  suppose  few  vessels 

have  sailed  from  Boston   since  ours It 

would  be  useless  to  attempt  a  description  of  this 
country.  It  is  one  great  garden.  Nature  and  art 
have  conspired  to  render  everything  here  delight- 
ful. .  .  .  .  There  is  so  much  danger  that  my 
letter  may  fall  into  malicious  hands,  that  I  should 
not  choose  to  be  too  free  in  my  observations  upon 
the  customs  and  manners  of  this  people.  But  thus 
much  I  may  say  with  truth  and  without  offence, 

*  He  had  been  appointed  Commissioner  at  the  Court  of 
Versailles,  to  act  in  conjunction  with  Dr.  Franklin  and 
Arthur  Lee. 


JOHN    ADAMS.  63 

that  there  is  no  people  in  the  world  who  take  so 
much  pains  to  please,  nor  any  whose  endeavors  in 
this  way  have  more  success.  Their  acts  and  man- 
ners, taste  and  language,  are  more  respected  in 
Europe  than  those  of  any  other  nation.  Luxury, 
dissipation,  and  effeminacy  are  pretty  nearly  of  the 
same  degree  of  excess  here  and  in  every  other  part 
of  Europe.  The  great  cardinal  virtue  of  temper- 
ance, however,  I  believe  flourishes  here  more  than 
in  any  other  part  of  Europe. 

My  dear  countrymen  !  how  shall  I  persuade  you 
to  avoid  the  plague  of  Europe  ?  Luxury  has  as 
many  and  as  bewitching  charms  on  your  side  of  the 
ocean  as  on  this ;  and  luxury,  wherever  she  goes, 
effaces  from  human  nature  the  image  of  the  Divinity. 
If  I  had  power  I  would  forever  banish  and  exclude 
from  America  all  gold,  silver,  precious  stones, 
alabaster,  marble,  silk,  velvet,  and  lace. 

Oh,  the  tyrant !  the  American  ladies  would  say. 
What !  Ay,  my  dear  girls,  these  passions  of 
yours,  which  are  so  easily  alarmed,  and  others  of 
my  own  sex  which  are  exactly  like  them,  have 
done  and  will  do  the  work  of  tyrants  in  all  ages. 
Tyrants  different  from  me,  whose  power  has  ban- 
ished, not  gold  indeed,  but  other  things  of  greater 
value,  wisdom,  virtue,  and  liberty. 

My  son  *  and  servant  are  well.  I  am,  with  an 
ardor  that  words  have  not  power  to  express,  yours. 

*  John  Quincy. 


64  CHIPS  FROM   THE   WHITE   HOUSE. 


PARIS,  Feb.,  1780. 

I  have  the  honor  to  be  lodging  here  with  no  less 
a  personage  than  the  Prince  of  Hesse-Cassel,  who 
is  here  upon  a  visit.  We  occupy  different  apart- 
ments in  the  same  house,  and  have  no  intercourse 
with  each  other;  but  some  wags  are  of  opinion 
that  if  I  were  authorized  to  open  a  negotiation 
with  him,  I  might  obtain  from  him  as  many  troops 
to  fight  on  our  side  of  the  question  as  he  has 
already  hired  to  the  English  against  us! 


[To  Mrs.  Adams.] 

Don't  disturb  yourself  about  any  malicious  at- 
tempts to  injure  me  in  the  estimation  of  my  coun- 
trymen. Let  them  take  their  course,  and  go  the 
length  of  their  tether.  They  will  never  hurt  your 
husband,  whose  character  is  fortified  with  a  shield 
of  innocence  and  honor  ten  thousand  fold  stronger 
than  brass  or  iron.  The  contemptible  essays, 
made  by  you  know  whom,  will  only  tend  to  their 
own  confusion.  My  letters  have  shown  them  their 
own  ignorance,  a  sight  they  could  not  bear.  Say 
as  little  about  it  as  I  do.  I  laugh,  and  will  laugh 
before  all  posterity  at  their  impotent  rage  and 
envy. 


JOHN    ADAMS.  65 

[To  Mrs.  Adams,  June  9,  1783,  referring  to  French  in- 
trigues, difficulties  in  America,  and  opposition  in  Eng- 
land to  a  treaty  of  peace  with  Great  Britain.] 

I  anr  weary,  worn,  and  disgusted  to  death.  I 
had  rather  chop  wood,  dig  ditches,  and  make  fence 
upon  my  poor  little  farm.  Alas,  poor  farm  !  and 
poorer  family  !  what  have  you  lost  that  your  coun- 
try might  be  free  !  and  that  others  might  catch  fire 
and  hunt  deer  and  bears  at  their  ease  ! 

There  will  be  as  few  of  the"  tears  of  gratitude, 
or  the  smiles  of  admiration,  or  of  the  sighs  of  pity 
for  us,  as  for  the  army.  But  all  this  should  not 
hinder  me  from  going  over  the  same  scenes  again, 
upon  the  same  occasion  —  scenes  which  I  would 
not  encounter  for  all  the  wealth,  pomp,  and  power 
of  the  world.  Boys  !  if  you  ever  say  one  word, 
or  utter  one  complaint,  I  will  disinherit  you. 
"Work  !  you  rogues,  and  be  free.  You  will  never 
have  so  hard  work  to  do  as  papa  has  had.  Daugh- 
ter !  get  you  an  honest  man  for  a  husband,  and 
keep  him  honest.  No  matter  whether  he  is  rich, 
provided  he  be  independent.  Regard  the  honor 
and  the  moral  character  of  the  man  more  than  all 
circumstances.  Think  of  no  other  greatness  but 
that  of  the  soul,  no  other  riches  but  those  of  the 
heart. 

5 


68  CHIPS   FROM   THE    WHITE   HOUSE. 

[To  Thomas  Jefferson,  1813.] 

The  human  understanding  is  a  revelation  froit* 
its  Maker,  which  can  never  be  disputed  01 
doubted. 

[To  Dr.  J.  Morse.] 

QCISCT.  22  December,  1815. 

In  the  course  of  these  ten  years  [from 

1765  to  1775],  they  [the  British  ministry]  formed 
and  organized  and  drilled  and  disciplined  a  part}- 
in  favor  of  Great  Britain,  and  they  seduced  and 
deluded  nearly  one  third  of  the  people  of  the 
colonies.  .  .  .  Let  me  confine  myself  to  Massa- 
chusetts. .  .  .  Daniel  Leonard  was  the  only  child 
of  Colonel  Ephraim  Leonard,  of  Norton.  He 
was  a  scholar,  a  lawyer,  and  an  orator,  accord- 
ing to  the  standard  of  those  days.  As  a  member 
of  the  House  of  Representatives,  even  down  to 
the  year  1770,  he  made  the  most  ardent  speeches 
which  were  delivered  in  that  House  against  Great 
Britain,  and  hi  favor  of  the  colonies.  His  popu- 
larity became  alarming.  The  two  sagacious  spirits, 
Hutchinson  and  Sewall,  soon  penetrated  his  char- 
acter, of  which,  indeed,  he  had  exhibited  very  vis- 
ible proofs.  He  had  married  a  daughter  of  Mr. 
Hammock,  who  had  left  her  a  portion,  as  it  was 
thought,  in  that  day.  He  wore  a  broad  gold  lace 
round  the  rim  of  his  hat,  he  had  made  his  cloak 
glitter  with  laces  still  broader,  he  had  set  up  his 


chariot  and  pair,  and  constantly  travelled  in  it 
from  Tanntoo  to  Boston.  Ibis  made  the  world 
stare;  it  was  a  novelty.  Xot  another  lawyer  in 
the  province,  attorney  or  barrister.,  of  whatever 
age,  reputation,  rank,  or  station,  presumed  to  ride 

in  a  coach  or  a  chariot.     The  discerning;  ones  soon 

- 

perceived  that  wealth  and  power  must  hare  charms 
to  a  heart  that  delighted  in  so  much  finery,  and  in- 
dulged in  such  unusual  expense.  Such  marks 
could  not  escape  the  vigilant  eyes  of  the  two  arch- 
tempters.  Hutchmson  and  Sewafl.  mho  had  more 
art,  insinuation,  and  address  than  all  the  rest  of 
their  party.  Poor  Daniel  was  beset  with  great 
zeal  for  his  conversion.  Hntchinson  sent  for  him, 
courted  him  with  the  ardor  of  a  lover,  reasoned 
with  him,,  nattered  him,  overawed  him,,  frightened 
him,  invited  him  to  come  frequently  to  his  house. 
As  I  was  intimate  with  Mr.  Leonard  dnrmg  the 
whole  of  this  process,  I  had  the  substance  of  this 
information  from  his  own  mouth.,  was  a  »'iin^g 
to  the  progress  of  the  impression  made  upon  him, 
and  to  many  of  the  labors  and  struggles  of  his 
mind,  between  his  interest  or  his  lanily,  and  his 
duty. 

[Letter  to  WOBam  TMar.J 

QTESCT-  24  Jmmsuy,  1817. 

Bernard,  Hntcfainson.  Oliver,  the  commissioners 
of  the  customs,  and  their  satellites,  had  an  espio- 
nage as  mqiusilivft,  as  zealous,  and  as  faithful  as 


70  CHIPS   FROM  THE   WHITE   HOUSE. 

that  in  France,  before,  during,  or  since  the  revo- 
lution, by  which  the  Tories  were  bettter  informed 
of  the  anecdote  which  I  am  about  to  relate  to  you, 
than  the  Whigs  were  in  general.  .  .  . 

The  public  had  been  long  alarmed  with  rumors 
and  predictions  that  the  king,  that  is,  the  min- 
istry, would  take  into  their  own  hands  the  pay- 
ment of  the  salaries  of  the  judges  of  the  Supreme 
Court.  The  people  would  not  believe  it ;  the  most 
thinking  men  dreaded  it.  They  said,  "With  an 
executive  authority  in  a  governor  possessed  of  an 
absolute  negative  on  all  the  acts  of  the  legislature, 
and  the  judges  dependent  only  on  the  crown  for 
salaries,  as  well  as  their  commissions,  what  pro- 
tection have  we?  We  may  as  well  abolish  all  lim- 
itations, and  resign  our  lives  and  liberties  at  once 
to  the  will  of  a  prime-minister  at  St.  James's.  You 
remember  the  controversy  that  General  Brattle 
excited  concerning  the  tenor  of  the  judges'  com- 
missions, and  the  universal  anxiety  that  then  pre- 
vailed on  the  subject.  The  despatches  at  length 
arrived,  and  expectation  was  raised  to  its  highest 
pitch  of  exultation  and  triumph  on  one  side,  and 
of  grief,  terror,  degradation,  and  despondency  on 
the  other.  The  legislature  assembled,  and  the 
governor  communicated  to  the  two  houses  his 
Majesty's  commands. 

It  happened  that  I  was  invited  to  dine  that  day 
with   Samuel  Winthrop,  an   excellent   character, 


JOHN   ADAMS.  71 

and  a  predecessor  in  the  respectable  office  you 
now  hold  in  the  Supreme  Court.  Arrived  at  his 
house  in  New  Boston,  I  found  it  full  of  counsel- 
lors, and  representatives,  and  clergy.  Such  a 
group  of  melancholy  countenances  I  had  rarely, 
if  ever,  seen.  No  conversation,  except  some  in- 
sipid observations  on  the  weather,  till  the  great 
topic  of  the  day  was  introduced,  and  at  the  same 
time  a  summons  to  the  feast.  All  harps  upon  the 
willow,  we  sat  down  to  a  triste  dinner,  which  all 
the  delicacies  before  us  could  not  enliven.  A  few 
glasses  of  good  wine,  however,  in  time  brought 
up  some  spirit,  and  the  conversation  assumed  a 
little  vigor,  but  it  was  the  energy  of  grief,  com- 
plaint, and  despair.  All  expressed  their  detesta- 
tion and  horror  of  the  insidious  ministerial  plot, 
but  all  agreed  that  it  was  irremediable.  There 
was  no  means  or  mode  of  opposing  or  resisting  it. 
Indignation  and  despair,  too,  boiled  in  my  breast 
as  ardently  as  in  any  of  them,  though,  as  the 
company  were  so  much  superior  to  me  in  age  and 
station,  I  had  not  said  anything;  but  Dr.  Win- 
throp,  the  professor,  then  of  the  council,  observing 
my  silence,  and  perhaps  my  countenance,  said : 
"Mr.  Adams,  what  is  your  opinion?  Can  you 
think  of  any  way  of  escaping  this  snare  !  "  My 
answer  was  :  "No,  sir ;  I  am  as  much  at  a  loss  as 
any  of  the  company.  I  agree  with  all  the  gentle- 
men, that  petitions  and  remonstrances  to  king  or 


72  CHIPS   FROM   THE   WHITE   HOUSE. 

parliament  will  be  ineffectual.  Nothing  but  force 
will  succeed ;  but  I  would  try  one  project  before 
I  had  recourse  to  the  last  reason  and  fitness  of 
things."  The  company  cried  out,  almost  or  quite 
together,  "What  project  is  that?  What  would 
you  do?"  A.  "I  would  impeach  the  judges." 
"Impeach  the  judges?  How?  Where?  Who 
can  impeach  them?"  A.  "The  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives," "  The  House  of  Representatives  ?  Be- 
fore whom?  Before  the  House  of  Lords  in  Eng- 
land?" A.  "No;  surely.  You  might  as  well 
impeach  them  before  Lord  North  alone."  "  Where, 
then?"  A.  "Before  the  governor  and  council." 
"  Is  there  any  precedent  for  that  ?  "  A.  "If  there 
is  not,  it  is  now  high  time  that  a  precedent  should 
beset."  "The  governor  and  council  will  not  re- 
ceive the  impeachment."  A.  "  I  know  that  very 
well,  but  the  record  of  it  will  stand  upon  the  jour- 
nals, be  published  in  pamphlets  and  newspapers, 
and  perhaps  make  the  judges  repent  of  their  sal- 
aries, and  decline  them;  perhaps  make  it  too 
troublesome  to  hold  them."  "What  right  had  we 
to  impeach  anybody  ?  "  A.  "  Our  House  of  Rep- 
resentatives have  the  same  right  to  impeach  as  the 
House  of  Commons  has  in  England,  and  our  gov- 
ernor and  council  have  the  same  right  and  duty  to 
receive  and  hear  impeachments  as  the  king  and 
House  of  Lords  have  in  parliament.  If  the  gov- 
ernor and  council  would  not  do  their  duty,  that 


JOHN   ADAMS.  73 

would  not  be  the  fault  of  the  people ;  their  repre- 
sentatives ought  nevertheless  to  do  theirs."  Some 
of  the  company  said  the  idea  was  so  new  to  them 
that  they  wished  I  would  show  them  some  reason 
for  my  opinion  that  we  had  the  right.  I  repeated 
to  them  the  clause  of  the  charter  which  I  relied 
on,  the  constant  practice  in  England,  and  the  ne- 
cessity of  such  a  power  and  practice  in  every  free 
government. 

The  company  dispersed,  and  I  went  home.  Dr. 
Cooper  and  others  were  excellent  hands  to  spread 
a  rumor,  and  before  nine  o'clock  half  the  town, 
and  most  of  the  members  of  the  general  court, 
had  in  their  heads  the  idea  of  an  impeachment. 
The  next  morning,  early,  Major  Hawley,  of  North- 
ampton, came  to  my  house  under  great  concern, 
and  said  he  heard  that  I  had  yesterday,  in  a  pub- 
lic company,  suggested  a  thought  of  impeaching 
the  judges ;  that  report  had  got  about,  and  had 
excited  some  uneasiness,  and  he  desired  to  know 
my  meaning.  I  invited  him  into  my  office,  opened 
the  charter,  and  requested  him  to  read  the  para- 
graphs that  I  had  marked.  I  then  produced  to 
him  that  volume  of  Selden's  works  which  contains 
his  treatise  on  Judicature  and  Parliament;  other 
authorities  in  law  were  produced  to  him,  and  the 
State  Trials,  and  a  profusion  of  impeachments, 
with  which  that  work  abounds.  Major  Hawley, 
who  was  one  of  the  best  men  in  the  province,  and 


72  CHIPS   FROM   THE    WHITE   HOUSE. 

parliament  will  be  ineffectual.  Nothing  but  force 
will  succeed ;  but  I  would  try  one  project  before 
I  had  recourse  to  the  last  reason  and  fitness  of 
things."  The  company  cried  out,  almost  or  quite 
together,  "What  project  is  that?  What  would 
you  do?"  A.  "I  would  impeach  the  judges." 
"Impeach  the  judges?  How?  Where?  Who 
can  impeach  them?"  A.  "The  House  of  Rcpre- 
sentatives,"  "  The  House  of  Representatives  ?  Be- 
fore whom?  Before  the  House  of  Lords  in  Eng- 
land ? "  A.  "  No ;  surely.  You  might  as  well 
impeach  them  before  Lord  North  alone."  "  Where, 
then?"  A.  "Before  the  governor  and  council." 
"  Is  there  any  precedent  for  that  ?  "  A.  "If  there 
is  not,  it  is  now  high  time  that  a  precedent  should 
be  set."  "  The  governor  and  council  will  not  re- 
ceive the  impeachment."  A.  "  I  know  that  very 
well,  but  the  record  of  it  will  stand  upon  the  jour- 
nals, be  published  in  pamphlets  and  newspapers, 
and  perhaps  make  the  judges  repent  of  their  sal- 
aries, and  decline  them ;  perhaps  make  it  too 
troublesome  to  hold  them."  "What  right  had  we 
to  impeach  anybody  ?  "  A.  "  Our  House  of  Rep- 
resentatives have  the  same  right  to  impeach  as  the 
House  of  Commons  has  in  England,  and  our  gov- 
ernor and  council  have  the  same  right  and  duty  to 
receive  and  hear  impeachments  as  the  king  and 
House  of  Lords  have  in  parliament.  If  the  gov- 
ernor and  council  would  not  do  their  duty,  that 


JOHN   ADAMS.  73 

would  not  be  the  fault  of  the  people  ;  their  repre- 
sentatives ought  nevertheless  to  do  theirs."  Some 
of  the  company  said  the  idea  was  so  new  to  them 
that  they  wished  I  would  show  them  some  reason 
for  my  opinion  that  we  had  the  right.  I  repeated 
to  them  the  clause  of  the  charter  which  I  relied 
on,  the  constant  practice  in  England,  and  the  ne- 
cessity of  such  a  power  and  practice  in  every  free 
government. 

The  company  dispersed,  and  I  went  home.  Dr. 
Cooper  and  others  were  excellent  hands  to  spread 
a  rumor,  and  before  nine  o'clock  half  the  town, 
and  most  of  the  members  of  the  general  court, 
had  in  their  heads  the  idea  of  an  impeachment. 
The  next  morning,  early,  Major  Hawley,  of  North- 
ampton, came  to  my  house  under  great  concern, 
and  said  he  heard  that  I  had  yesterday,  in  a  pub- 
lic company,  suggested  a  thought  of  impeaching 
the  judges ;  that  report  had  got  about,  and  had 
excited  some  uneasiness,  and  he  desired  to  know 
my  meaning.  I  invited  him  into  my  office,  opened 
the  charter,  and  requested  him  to  read  the  para- 
graphs that  I  had  marked.  I  then  produced  to 
him  that  volume  of  Selden's  works  which  contains 
his  treatise  on  Judicature  and  Parliament;  other 
authorities  in  law  were  produced  to  him,  and  the 
State  Trials,  and  a  profusion  of  impeachments, 
with  which  that  work  abounds.  Major  Hawley, 
who  was  one  of  the  best  men  in  the  province,  and 


74  CHIPS  FROM  THE  WHITE   HOUSE. 

one  of  the  ablest  lawyers  and  best  speakers  in  the 
legislature,  was  struck  with  surprise.  He  said, 
"I  know  not  what  to  think.  This  is  in  a  manner 
all  new  to  me.  I  must  think  of  it."  You,  Mr. 
Tudor,  will  not  wonder  at  Major  Hawley's  embar- 
rassment, if  you  recollect  that  my  copy  of  Sel- 
den's  works,  of  the  State  Trials,  and  the  Statutes 
at  Large,  were  the  only  ones  in  Boston  at  that 
time.  .  .  . 

My  strange  brother,  Eobert  Treat  Paine,  came 
to  me  with  grief  and  terror  in  his  face  and  man- 
ners. He  said  he  had  heard  that  I  talked  of  an 
impeachment  of  the  judges  ;  that  it  had  excited  a 
great  deal  of  conversation,  and  that  it  seemed  to 
prevail,  and  that,  according  to  all  appearances,  it 
would  be  brought  forward  in  the  House ;  he  was 
very  uneasy  about  it,  etc.  I  knew  the  man.  In- 
stead of  entering  into  particular  conversation  with 
him,  I  took  him  into  my  office,  and  showed  him 
all  that  I  had  before  shown  to  Major  Hawley.  He 
had  not  patience  to  read  much,  and  went  away 
with  the  same  anxious  brow.  This  man  had  an 
upright  heart,  an  abundance  of  wit,  and,  upon  the 
whole,  a  deeper  policy  than  I  had.  lie  soon 
found,  however,  that  the  impeachment  was  pop- 
ular, and  would  prevail,  and  prudently  acquiesced. 
Major  Ilawlcy,  always  conscientious,  always  de- 
liberate, always  cautious,  had  not  slept  soundly. 
What  were  his  dreams  about  impeachment,  I  know 


JOHN   ADAMS.  75 

not.  But  this  I  know;  he  drove  away  to  Cam- 
bridge, to  consult  Judge  Trowbridge,  and  ap- 
pealed to  his  conscience.  The  charter  was  called 
for;  Selden  and  the  State  Trials  were  quoted. 
Trowbridge  said  to  him  what  I  had  said  before, 
that  "  the  power  of  impeachment  was  essential  to 
a  free  government ;  that  the  charter  had  given  it  to 
onr  House  of  Representatives  as  clearly  as  the 
Constitution,  in  the  common  law  or  immemorial 
usage,  had  given  it  to  the  House  of  Commons  in 
England."  This  was  all  he  could  say,  though  he 
lamented  the  occasion  of  it. 

Major  Hawley  returned  full  in  the  faith.  An 
impeachment  was  voted,  a  committee  appointed 
to  prepare  articles.  But  Major  Hawley  insisted 
upon  it  in  private  with  the  committee  that  they 
should  consult  me,  and  take  my  advice  upon  every 
article  before  they  reported  it  to  the  House.  Such 
was  the  state  of  parties  at  that  moment,  that  the 
patriots  could  carry  nothing  in  the  House  without 
the  support  of  Major  Hawley.  The  committee 
very  politely  requested  me  to  meet  them.  To 
avoid  all  questions  about  time  and  place,  I  invited 
them  to  my  house  in  the  evening.  They  came, 
and  produced  a  draft  of  articles,  which  were  ex- 
amined, considered,  and  discussed,  article  by  arti- 
cle, and  paragraph  by  paragraph.  I  objected  to 
some,  and  proposed  alterations  in  others.  Some- 
times succeeded,  and  often  failed.  .  .  .  The  re- 


76  CHIPS  FROM   THE   WHITE   HOUSE. 

suit,  upon  the  whole,  was  not  satisfactory  to  me  in 
all  points,  but  I  was  not  responsible. 

Next  day  I  met  Ben  Gridley,  who  accosted  me 
in  his  pompous  style,  "Brother  Adams,  you  keep 
late  hours !  Last  night  I  saw  a  host  of  senators 
vomit  forth  from  your  door  after  midnight." 
Now,  brother  Tudor,  judge  you  whether  this 
whole  transaction  was  not  as  well  known  at  head- 
quarters, and  better  too,  than  in  the  House  of 
Eepresentatives.  This  confidence  of  Major  Haw- 
ley  in  me  became  an  object  of  jealousy  to  the  pa- 
triots. Not  only  Mr.  Paine,  but  Mr.  [Samuel] 
Adams  and  Mr.  Hancock,  could  not  refrain  from 
expressing,  at  times,  their  feeling  of  it.  But  they 
could  do  nothing  without  Major  Hawley.  These 
little  passions,  of  which  even  the  apostles  could 
not  wholly  divest  themselves,  have,  in  all  ages, 
been  small  causes  of  great  events ;  too  small,  in- 
deed, to  be  described  by  historians,  or  even  known 
to  them,  or  suspected  by  them. 

These  articles  were  reported  to  the  House,  dis- 
cussed, accepted ;  the  impeachment  voted,  and 
sent  up  in  form  to  the  governor  and  council ;  re- 
jected, of  course,  as  everybody  knew  beforehand 
that  it  would  be ;  but  it  remained  on  the  journals 
of  the  House,  was  printed  in  the  newspapers,  and 
went  abroad  into  the  world.  And  what  were  the 
consequences?  Chief  Justice  Oliver  and  his  Su- 
perior Court,  your  Supreme  Judicial  Court,  com- 
menced their  regular  circuit. 


JOHN   ADAMS.  77 

The  Chief  Justice  opened  his  court  as  usual. 
Grand  jurors  and  petit  jurors  refused  to  take  their 
oaths.  They  never,  as  I  believe,  could  prevail  on 
one  juror  to  take  the  oath.  I  attended  at  the  bar 
in  two  counties,  and  I  heard  grand  jurors  and 
petit  jurors  say  to  Chief  Justice  Oliver,  to  his  face, 
"  The  chief  justice  of  this  court  stands  impeached 
by  the  representatives  of  the  people  of  high  crimes 
and  misdemeanors,  and  of  a  conspiracy  against  the 
charter  privileges  of  the  people.  I  therefore  can- 
not serve  as  juror,  or  take  the  oath."  The  cool, 
calm,  sedate  intrepidity  with  which  these  honest 
freeholders  went  through  this  fiery  trial  filled  my 
eyes  and  my  heart. 

In  one  word,  the  royal  government  was  from 
that  moment  laid  prostrate  in  the  dust,  and  has 
never  since  revived  in  substance,  though  a  dark 
shadow  of  the  hobgoblin  haunts  me  at  times  to 
this  day. 

[From  a  letter  to  William  Tudor,  1817.] 

The  bloody  rencounter  between  the  citi- 
zens and  the  soldiers  on  the  5th  of  March,  1770, 
produced  a  tremendous  sensation  throughout  the 
town  and  country.  The  people  assembled  first  at 
Faneuil  Hall,  and  adjourned  to  the  Old  South 
Church,  to  the  number,  as  was  conjectured,  of  ten 
or  twelve  thousand  men,  among  whom  were  the 
most  virtuous,  substantial,  independent,  disinter- 


78  CHIPS   FROM   THE    WHITE    HOUSE. 

ested,  and  intelligent  citizens.  They  formed  them- 
selves into  a  regular  deliberative  body,  chose  their 
moderator  and  secretary,  entered  into  discussions, 
deliberations,  and  debates,  adopted  resolutions, 
appointed  committees.  ...  A  remonstrance  to 
the  governor  was  ordained,  and  a  demand  that  the 
regular  troops  should  be  removed  from  the  town. 
A  committee  was  appointed  to  present  this  remon- 
strance, of  which  Samuel  Adams  was  the  chair- 
man. ...  In  his  common  appearance  he  was 
a  plain,  simple,  decent  citizen,  of  middling  stature, 
dress,  and  manners.  He  had  an  exquisite  ear  for 
music,  and  a  charming  voice,  when  he  pleased  to 
exert  it.  Yet  his  ordinary  speeches  in  town  meet- 
ings, in  the  House  of  Representatives,  and  in  Con- 
gress, exhibited  nothing  extraordinary ;  but  upon 
great  occasions,  when  his  deeper  feelings  were  ex- 
cited, he  erected  himself,  or  rather  Nature  seemed 
to  erect  him,  without  the  smallest  sj^mptom  of  affec- 
tation, into  an  upright  dignity  and  gesture,  and 
gave  a  harmony  to  his  voice  which  made  a  strong 
impression  on  spectators  and  auditors,  — the  more 
lasting  for  the  purity,  correctness,  and  nervous 
elegance  of  his  style. 

This  was  a  delicate  and  a  dangerous  crisis.  The 
question  in  the  last  resort  was,  whether  the  town 
of  Boston  should  become  a  scene  of  carnage  and 
desolation  or  not.  Humanity  to  the  soldiers  con- 
spired with  a  regard  for  the  safety  of  the  town,  in 


JOHN   ADAMS.  79 

suggesting  the  wise  measure  of  calling  the  town  to- 
gether to  deliberate.  For  nothing  short  of  the 
most  solemn  promises  to  the  people  that  the  sol- 
diers should,  at  all  hazards,  be  driven  from  the 
town,  had  preserved  its  peace.  Not  only  the  im- 
mense assemblies  of  the  people  from  day  to  day, 
but  military  arrangements  from  night  to  night,  were 
necessary  to  keep  the  people  and  the  soldiers  from 
getting  together  by  the  ears.  The  life  of  a  red- 
coat would  not  have  been  safe  in  any  street  or  cor- 
ner of  the  town.  Nor  would  the  lives  of  the  in- 
habitants have  been  much  more  secure.  The 
whole  militia  of  the  city  was  in  requisition,  and 
military  watches  and  guards  were  everywhere 
placed.  We  were  all  upon  a  level ;  no  man  was 
exempted ;  our  military  officers  were  only  our 
superiors.  I  had  the  honor  to  be  summoned,  in 
my  turn,  and  attended  at  the  State  House  with 
my  musket  and  bayonet,  my  broadsword,  and 
cartridge-box,  under  the  command  of  the  famous 
Paddock.  .  .  .  He  called  me,  common  soldier  as 
I  was,  frequently  to  his  councils.  I  had  a  great 
deal  of  conversation  with  him,  and  no  man  ap- 
peared more  apprehensive  of  a  fatal  calamity  to 
the  town,  or  more  zealous  by  every  prudent  meas- 
ure to  prevent  it. 

Such  was  the  situation  of  affairs  when  Samuel 
Adams  was  reasoning  [in  the  council  chamber] 
with  Lieutenant-Governor  Hutchinson  and  Lieu- 


80  CHIPS   FROM   THE    WHITE    HOUSE. 

» 

tenant-Colonel  Dairy mple.  He  had  fairly  driven 
them  from  all  their  outworks,  breastworks,  and 
intrenchments,  to  their  citadel.  There  they 
paused  and  considered  and  deliberated.  The 
heads  of  Hutchinson  and  Dalrymple  were  laid 
together  in  whispers  for  a  long  time ;  when  the 
whispering  ceased,  a  long  and  solemn  pause  en- 
sued, extremely  painful  to  an  impatient,  expect- 
ing audience.  Hutchinson,  in  time,  broke  silence  ; 
he  had  consulted  with  Colonel  Dalrymple,  and  the 
Colonel  had  authorized  him  to  say  that  he  might 
order  one  regiment  down  to  the  castle,  if  that 
would  satisfy  the  people. 

With  a  self-recollection,  a  self-possession,  a  self- 
command,  a  presence  of  mind  that  was  admired 
by  every  man  present,  Samuel  Adams  arose  with 
an  air  of  dignity  and  majesty  of  which  he  was 
sometimes  capable,  stretched  forth  his  arm,  though 
even  then  quivering  with  palsy,  and  with  an  har- 
monious voice  and  decisive  tone  said,  "  If  the 
Lieutenant-Go vernor  or  Colonel  Dalrymple,  or 
both  together,  have  authority  to  remove  one  regi- 
ment, they  have  authority  to  remove  two,  and 
nothing  short  of  the  total  evacuation  of  the  town 
by  all  the  regular  troops  will  satisfy  the  public 
mind  or  preserve  the  peace  of  the  province." 

These  few  words  thrilled  through  the  veins  of 
every  man  in  the  audience,  and  produced  the 
great  result.  After  a  little  awkward  hesitation, 


JOHN   ADAMS.  81 

it  was  agreed  that  the  town  should  be  evacuated, 
and  both  regiments  sent  to  the  castle. 

After  all  this  gravity  it  is  merry  enough  to  relate 
that  William  Molineux  was  obliged  to  march  side 
by  side  with  the  commander  of  some  of  these  troops, 
to  protect  them  from  the  indignation  of  the  people 
in  their  progress  to  the  wharf  of  embarkation  to 
the  castle.  Nor  is  it  less  amusing  that  Lord  North, 
as  I  was  repeatedly  and  credibly  informed  in  Eng- 
land, with  his  characteristic  mixture  of  good 
humor  and  sarcasm,  ever  after  called  these  troops 
by  the  title  of  "  Sam  Adams'  two  regiments." 

[From  a  letter  to  William  Tudor,  with  reference  to  the  of- 
fensive "writs  of  assistance,"  inquisitorial  revenue  regu- 
lations, sought  to  be  forced  upon  the  people.*]. 

QUIKCY,  29  March,  1817. 

Whenever  you  shall  find  a  pointer,  male 

or  female,  I  pray  you  suggest  a  scene  and  a  sub- 
ject for  the  pencil. 

The  scene  is  the  Council  Chamber,  in  the  old 
Town  House,  in  Boston.  The  date  is  in  the 
month  of  February,  1761.  .  .  .  The  Council 

*  A  special  effort  to  enforce  the  navigation  laws,  and  to 
prevent  the  colonists  from  trading  with  other  nations,  was 
made  by  Parliament,  in  1761,  by  means  of  "Writs  of  Assist- 
ance," or  general  search-warrants,  authorizing  any  sheriff, 
or  officer  of  the  customs,  to  enter  a  store  or  private  dwelling, 
and  search  for  foreign  merchandise,  which  he  suspected  had 
not  paid  duty. 

6 


82  CHIPS   FROM   THE    WHITE    HOUSE. 

Chamber  was  as  respectable  an  apartment  as  the 
House  of  Commons,  or  the  House  of  Lords,  in 
Great  Britain,  in  proportion.  ...  In  this  cham- 
ber, round  a  great  fire,  were  seated  five  judges, 
with  Lieutenant-Governor  Hutchinson  at  their  head 
as  Chief  Justice,  all  arrayed  in  their  new,  fresh, 
rich  robes  of  scarlet  English  broadcloth ;  in  their 
large  cambric  bands  and  immense  judicial  wigs. 
In  this  chamber  were  seated  at  a  long  table  all  the 
barristers-at-law  of  Boston,  and  of  the  neighbor- 
ing county  of  Middlesex,  in  gowns,  bands,  and  tie 
wigs.  They  were  not  seated  on  ivory  chairs,  but 
their  dress  was  more  solemn  and  more  pompous 
than  that  of  the  Roman  Senate  when  the  Gauls 
broke  in  upon  them.  .  .  .  Two  portraits,  at 
more  than  full  length,  of  King  Charles  the  Second, 
and  of  King  James  the  Second,  in  splendid 
golden  frames,  were  hung  up  on  the  most  con- 
spicuous sides  of  the  apartment.  .  .  .  One 
circumstance  more.  Samuel  Quincy  and  John 
Adams  had  been  admitted  barristers  at  that 
term.  John  was  the  youngest ;  he  should  be 
painted  looking  like  a  short,  thick  archbishop  of 
Canterbury,  seated  at  a  table,  with  a  pen  in  his 
hand,  lost  in  admiration,  now  and  then  minuting 
those  poor  notes  which  your  pupil,  Judge  Minot, 
has  printed  in  his  history.  .  .  .  You  have  now 
the  stage  and  the  scenery ;  next  follows  a  narra- 
tion of  the  subject  —  [arguing  the  question  of  the 
legality  of  the  "writs  of  assistance."] 


JOHN    ADAMS.  83 

Now  for  the  actors  and  performers.  Mr.  Grid- 
ley  argued,  with  his  characteristic  learning,  inge- 
nuity, and  dignity,  and  said  everything  that  could 
be  said  in  favor  of  Cockle's  [the  deputy-collector's] 
petition  [for  writs  of  assistance]  ;  all  depending, 
however,  on  the  "  if  the  Parliament  of  Great  Brit- 
ain is  the  sovereign  legislature  of  all  the  British 
empire."  Mr.  Thacher  followed  him  on  the  other 
side,  and  argued  with  the  softness  of  manners,  the 
ingenuity  and  cool  reasoning,  which  were  remark- 
able in  his  amiable  character. 

But  Otis  *  was  a  flame  of  fire !  With  a  promp- 
titude of  classical  allusions,  a  depth  of  research, 
a  rapid  summary  of  historical  events  and  dates,  a 
profusion  of  legal  authorities,  a  prophetic  glance 
of  his  eye  into  futurity,  and  a  torrent  of  impetuous 
eloquence,  he  hurried  away  everything  before  him. 
American  independence  was  then  and  there  born  ; 
the  seeds  of  patriots  and  heroes  were  then  and 
there  sown,  to  defend  the  vigorous  youth,  the  non 
sine  Diis  animosus  infans.  Every  man  of  a 
crowded  audience  appeared  to  me  to  go  away, 
as  I  did,  ready  to  take  arms  against  writs  of 

*  James  Otis  was  the  advocate  for  the  Admiralty,  whose 
duty  it  was  to  argue  in  favor  of  the  Writs ;  but  he  resigned, 
in  oi-der  to  plead  the  cause  of  the  people.  "To  my  dying 
clay,"  he  said,  "  I  will  oppose,  with  all  the  power  and  facul- 
ties God  has  given  me,  all  such  instruments  of  slavery  on 
the  one  hand,  and  villany  on  the  other."  —  Patton's  History 
of  the  United  States. 


84  CHIPS   FROM   THE    WHITE    HOUSE. 

assistance.  Then  and  there  was  the  first  scene  of 
the  first  act  of  opposition  to  the  arbitrary  claims 
of  Great  Britain.  Then  and  there  the  child  Inde- 
pendence was  born.  In  fifteen  years,  namely,  in 
1776,  he  grew  up  to  manhood,  and  declared  him- 
self free.  .  .  .  Mr.  Otis's  popularity  was  without 
bounds.  In  May,  1761,  he  was  elected  into  the 
House  of  Representatives  by  an  almost  unanimous 
vote.  On  the  week  of  his  election  I  happened  to 
be  at  Worcester,  attending  the  Court  of  Common 
Pleas,  of  which  Brigadier  Ruggles  was  Chief  Jus- 
tice, when  the  news  arrived  from  Boston  of  Mr. 
Otis's  election.  You  can  have  no  idea  of  the  con- 
sternation among  the  government  people.  Chief 
Justice  Ruggles,  at  dinner  at  Colonel  Chandler's 
on  that  day,  said,  "  Out  of  this  election  will  arise 
a  d — d  faction  which  will  shake  this  province  to  its 
foundation."  Rtiggles's  foresight  reached  not  be- 
yond his  nose.  That  election  has  shaken  two 
continents,  and  will  shake  all  four.  For  ten  years 
Mr.  Otis,  at  the  head  of  his  country's  cause,  con- 
ducted the  town  of  Boston,  and  the  people  of  the 
province,  with  a  prudence  and  fortitude,  at  every 
sacrifice  of  personal  interest,  and  amidst  unceasing 
persecution,  which  would  have  done  honor  to  the 
most  virtuous  patriot  or  martyr  of  antiquity. 

The  minutes  of  Mr.  Otis's  argument  are  no 
better  a  representation  of  it  than  the  gleam  of  a 
glow-worm  to  the  meridian  blaze  of  the  sun. 


JOHN    ADAMS.  85 

[To  Robert  I.  Evans,  1819.] 

I  have,  through  my  whole  life,  held  the  practice 
of  slavery  in  such  abhorrence,  that  I  have  nevei 
owned  a  negro  or  any  other  slave,  though  I  have 
lived  for  many  years  in  times  when  the  practice 
was  not  disgraceful,  when  the  best  men  in  my 
vicinity  thought  it  not  inconsistent  with  their  char- 
acter, and  when  it  has  cost  me  thousands  of  dol- 
lars for  the  labor  and  subsistence  of  freemen,  which 
I  might  have  saved  by  the  purchase  of  negroes  at 
times  wThen  they  were  very  cheap. 

[To  Samuel  Miller,  1820.] 

.  .  .  That  you  and  I  shall  meet  in  a  better 
world,  I  have  no  more  doubt  than  I  have  that  we 
now  exist  on  the  same  globe,  if  my  natural  reason 
did  not  convince  me  of  this.  Cicero's  Dream  of 
Scipio,  and  his  essays  on  friendship  and  old  age, 
would  have  been  sufficient  for  the  purpose.  But 
Jesus  has  taught  us  that  a  future  state  is  a  social 
state,  when  he  promised  to  prepare  places  in  his 
Father's  house  of  many  mansions,  for  his  disciples. 

[To  Thomas  Jefferson,  1820.] 

When  we  say  God  is  a  spirit,  we  know  wThat  we 
mean,  as  well  as  we  do  when  we  say  that  the  pyr- 
amids of  Egypt  are  matter.  Let  us  be  content, 
therefore,  to  believe  him  to  be  a  spirit,  that  is,  an 
essence  that  we  knowr  nothing  of,  in  which  origi- 


86  CHIPS   FROM    THE    WHITE    HOUSE. 

nally  and  necessarily  reside  all  energy,  all  power, 
all  capacity,  all  activity,  all  wisdom,  all  goodness. 

[To  Richard  Rush,  1821.] 

Strait  is  the  gate,  and  narrow  is  the  way  that 
leads  to  liberty,  and  few  nations,  if  any,  have 
found  it. 

[To  Thomas  Jefferson,  1821.] 

I  may  refine  too  much,  I  may  be  an  enthusiast, 
but  I  think  a  free  government  is  a  complicated 
piece  of  machinery,  the  nice  and  exact  adjustment 
of  whose  springs,  wheels,  and  weights,  is  not  yet 
well  comprehended  by  the  artists  of  the  age,  and 
still  less  by  the  people. 

[To  Richard  Rush,  1821.] 

Never  before,  but  once,  in  the  whole  course  of 
my  life,  was  my  soul  so  melted  into  the  milk  of 
human  kindness  ;  and  that  once  was  when  four  or 
five  hundred  fine  young  fellows  appeared  before 
me  in  Philadelphia,  presenting  an  address,  and 
receiving  my  answer.  On  both  occasions  I  felt  as 
if  I  could  lay  down  a  hundred  lives  to  preserve 
the  liberties  and  promote  the  prosperity  of  so 
noble  a  rising  generation. 


o 


[To  Thomas  Jefferson,  1823.] 

Right  and  justice  have  had  hard  fare  in  this 
world,  but  there  is  a  Power  above  who  is  capable 
and  willing  to  put  all  things  right  in  the  end. 


JOHN   ADAMS.  87 

[To  Thomas  Jefferson,  1825.] 

The  substance  and  essence  of  Christianity,  as  I 
understand  it,  is  eternal  and  unchangeable,  and 
will  bear  examination  forever;  but  it  has  been 
mixed  with  extraneous  ingredients,  which  I  think 
will  not  bear  examination,  and  they  ought  to  be 
separated. 


88  CHIPS   FROM   THE   WHITE    HOUSE. 


THOMAS    JEFFEESON. 

BORN,  1743;  DIED,  1826,  AGED  83.  —  ENTERED  WILLIAM  AND 
MARY  COLLEGE,  VA,  17GO.  —  BEGAN  PRACTICE  OF  LAW,  1767. 
—MEMBER  OF  HOUSE  OF  BURGESSES,  VA.,  1769.— MEMBER 
OF  VIRGINIA  CONVENTION,  1774.  —  DELEGATE  TO  CON- 
GRESS, 1775.— WROTE  DECLARATION  OF  INDEPENDENCE, 
1776.  — MEMBER  OF  A  CONVENTION  TO  FRAME  A  CONSTITU- 
TION FOR  VIRGINIA,  1776.  —  PROCURED  PASSAGE  OF  A  BILL 
PROHIBITING  THE  FUTURE  IMPORTATION  OF  SLAVES,  1778. 
GOVERNOR  OF  VIRGINIA,  1779.  —  DELEGATE  TO  CONGRESS, 
1783.— MINISTER  PLENIPOTENTIARY  TO  EUROPE,  1781.— 
MINISTER  TO  FRANCE,  1785.  —  SECRETARY  OF  STATE,  1790.— 
VICE-PRESIDENT,  1797.  —  PRESIDENT,  1801-1809.  —  TOOK  AC- 
TIVE PART  IN  ESTABLISHING  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  VIR- 
GINIA, 1817. 

TRAINED  in  these  successive  schools,  (the 
Virginia  Assembly,  the  Council  of  State,  and 
Congress,)  he  [Madison]  acquired  a  habit  of  self- 
possession  which  placed  at  ready  command  the 
rich  resources  of  his  luminous  and  discriminating 
mind,  and  of  his  extensive  information,  and  ren- 
dered him  the  first  of  every  assembly  afterward 
of  which  he  became  a  member.  Never  wandering 
from  his  subject  into  vain  declamation,  but  pur- 
suing it  closely,  in  language  pure,  classical,  and 
copious,  soothing  always  the  feelings  of  his  adver- 
saries by  civilities  and  softness  of  expression,  he 


THOMAS    JEFFERSON.  89 

rose  to  the  eminent  station  which  he  held  in  the 
great  National  Convention  of  1787  ;  and  in  that 
of  Virginia,  which  followed,  he  sustained  the  new 
constitution  in  all  its  parts,  bearing  off  the  palm 
against  the  logic  of  George  Mason,  and  the  fervid 
declamation  of  Mr.  Henry.  With  these  consum- 
mate powers  was  united  a  pure  and  spotless  virtue, 
which  no  calumny  has  ever  attempted  to  sully. 
Of  the  powers  and  polish  of  his  pen,  and  of  the 
wisdom  of  his  administration  in  the  highest  office 
of  the  nation,  I  need  say  nothing.  They  have 
spoken,  and  will  forever  speak  for  themselves.  — 
Writings,  Vol.  I,  p.  33. 

The  bill  [in  the  General  Assembly  of  Virginia] 
for  establishing  religious  freedom  ...  I  had  drawn 
in  all  the  latitude  of  reason  and  right.  It  still  met 
with  opposition  ;  but,  with  some  mutilation  in  the 
preamble,  it  was  finally  passed;  and  a  singular 
proposition  proved  that  its  protection  of  opinion 
was  meant  to  be  universal.  Where  the  preamble 
declares  that  coercion  is  a  departure  from  the  plan 
of  the  holy  author  of  our  religion,  an  amendment 
was  proposed,  by  inserting  the  words  "Jesus 
Christ,"  so  that  it  should  read,  "  a  departure  from 
the  plan  of  Jesus  Christ,  the  holy  author  of  our 
religion " ;  the  insertion  was  rejected  by  a  great 
majority,  in  proof  that  they  meant  to  comprehend 
within  the  mantle  of  its  protection,  the  Jew  and 


90  CHIPS    FROM    THE    WHITE    HOUSE. 

the  Gentile,  the  Christian  and  Mahometan,  the 
Hindoo,  and  Infidel  of  every  denomination. — 
Writings,  Vol.  I.,  36. 

[Letter  to  John  Randolph.] 

November  29,  1773. 

Believe  me,  dear  sir,  there  is  not  in  the 

British  empire  a  man  who  more  cordially  loves  a 
union  with  Great  Britain  than  I  do.  But,  by  the 
God  that  made  me,  I  will  cease  to  exist  before  I 
yield  to  a  connection  on  such  terms  as  the  British 
Parliament  propose ;  and  in  this,  I  think  I  speak 
the  sentiments  of  America. 


The  passage  of  the  Patowmac  [Potomac]  through 
the  Blue  Ridge  is  perhaps  one  of  the  most  stupen- 
dous scenes  in  nature.  You  stand  on  a  very  high 
point  of  land.  On  your  right  comes  up  the  Shen- 
andoah,  having  ranged  along  the  foot  of  the  moun- 
tain an  hundred  miles  to  seek  a  vent.  On  your 
left  approaches  the  Patowmac,  in  quest  of  a  pas- 
sage also.  In  the  moment  of  their  junction  they 
rush  together  against  the  mountain,  rend  it  asun- 
der, and  pass  off  to  the  sea.  The  first  glance  of 
this  scene  hurries  our  senses  into  the  opinion  that 
this  earth  has  been  created  in  time,  that  the  moun- 
tains were  formed  first,  that  the  rivers  began  to 
flow  afterwards,  that  in  this  place  particularly  they 
have  been  dammed  up  by  the  Blue  ridge  of  moun- 
tains, and  have  formed  an  ocean  which  filled  the 


THOMAS   JEFFERSON.  91 

whole  valley ;  that  continuing  to  rise,  they  have  at 
length  broken  over  at  this  spot,  and  have  torn  the 
mountain  down  from  its  summit  to  its  base.  The 
piles  of  rock  on  each  hand,  but  particularly  on  the 
Shenandoah,  the  evident  marks  of  their  disrupture 
and  avulsion  from  their  beds  by  the  most  powerful 
agents  of  nature,  corroborate  the  impression. 

But  the  distant  finishing  which  nature  has  given 
to  the  picture  is  of  a  very  different  character.  It 
is  a  true  contrast  to  the  foreground.  It  is  as  placid 
and  delightful  as  that  is  wild  and  tremendous.  For 
the  mountain  being  cloven  asunder,  she  presents  to 
your  eye,  through  the  cleft,  a  small  catch  of 
smooth,  blue  horizon,  at  an  infinite  distance  in  the 
plain  country,  inviting  you  as  it  were  from  the  riot 
and  tumult  roaring  around  to  pass  through  the 
breach  and  participate  of  the  calm  below.  Here 
the  eye  ultimately  composes  itself;  and  that  way 
too  the  road  happens  actually  to  lead.  You  cross 
the  Patowmac  above  the  junction,  pass  along  its 
side  through  the  base  of  the  mountain  for  three 
miles,  its  terrible  precipices  hanging  in  fragments 
over  you,  and  within  about  twenty  miles  reach 
Fredericktown,  and  the  fine  country  round  that. 
This  scene  is  worth  a  voyage  across  the  Atlantic. — 
1781.  JVotes  on  Virginia. 

The  Natural  Bridge,  the  most  sublime  of  nature's 
works, is  on  the  ascent  of  a  hill,  which 


92  -  CHIPS   FROM   THE   WHITE   HOUSE. 

seems  to  have  been  cloven  through  its  length  by 
some  great  convulsion.  The  fissure,  just  at  the 
bridge,  is,  by  some  admeasurements,  two  hundred 
and  seventy  feet  deep,  by  others  only  two  hundred 
and  five.  It  is  about  forty-five  feet  wide  at  the 
bottom,  and  ninety  feet  at  the  top ;  this  of  course 
determines  the  length  of  the  bridge,  and  its  height 
from  the  water.  Its  breadth  in  the  middle  is  about 
sixty  feet,  but  more  at  the  ends,  and  the  thickness 
of  the  mass,  at  the  summit  of  the  arch,  about  forty 
feet.  A  part  of  this  thickness  is  constituted  by 
a  coat  of  earth,  which  gives  growth  to  many  large 
trees. 

The  residue,  with  the  hill  on  both  sides,  is  one 
solid  rock  of  limestone.  The  arch  approaches  the 
semi-elliptical  form;  but  the  large  axis  of  the 
ellipsis,  which  would  be  the  chord  of  the  arch,  is 
many  times  longer  than  the  transverse.  Though 
the  sides  of  this  bridge  are  provided  in  some  parts 
with  a  parapet  of  fixed  rocks,  yet  few  men  have 
the  resolution  to  walk  to  them,  and  look  over  into 
the  abyss.  You  involuntarily  fall  upon  your  hands 
and  feet,  creep  to  the  parapet,  and  peep  over  it. 
Looking  down  from  this  height  above  a  minute 
gave  me  a  violent  headache. 

If  the  view  from  the  top  be  painful  and  intoler- 
able, that  from  below  is  delightful  in  an  equal  ex- 
treme. It  is  impossible  for  the  emotions  arising 
from  the  sublime  to  be  felt  beyond  what  they  are 


THOMAS   JEFFERSON.  93 

here :  so  beautiful  an  arch,  so  elevated,  so  light, 
and  springing  as  it  were  up  to  heaven,  the  rapture 
of  the  spectator  is  really  indescribable!  — 1781. 
Jfotes,  etc.,  p.  34. 

THE   NEGROES. 

Whether  further  observation  will  or  will  not 
verify  the  conjecture  that  nature  has  been  less 
bountiful  to  them  in  the  endowment  of  the  head, 
I  believe  that  in  those  of  the  heart  she  will  be 
found  to  have  done  them  justice.  That  disposi- 
tion to  theft  with  which  they  have  been  branded 
must  be  ascribed  to  their  situation,  and  not  to  any 
depravity  of  the  moral  sense.  The  man  in  whose 
favor  no  laws  of  property  exist  probably  feels  him- 
self less  bound  to  respect  those  made  in  favor  of 
others.  When  arguing  for  ourselves,  we  lay  it 
down  as  a  fundamental,  that  laws,  to  be  just, 
must  give  a  reciprocation  of  right ;  that  without 
this  they  are  mere  arbitrary  rules  of  conduct, 
founded  in  force  and  not  in  conscience ;  and  it 
is  a  problem  which  I  give  to  the  master  to  solve, 
whether  the  religious  precepts  against  the  viola- 
tion of  property  were  not  framed  for  him  as  well 
as  his  slave?  and  whether  the  slave  may  not  as 
justifiably  take  a  little  from  one  who  has  taken  all 
from  him,  as  he  would  slay  one  who  would  slay 
him  ?  That  a  change  in  the  relations  in  which  a 
man  is  placed  should  change  his  ideas  of  moral 


94  CHIPS   FROM  THE   WHITE   HOUSE. 

right  and  wrong  is  neither  new  nor  peculiar  to  the 
color  of  the  blacks 

Notwithstanding  these  considerations,  which 
must  weaken  their  respect  for  the  laws  of  prop- 
erty, we  find  among  them  numerous  instances 
of  the  most  rigid  integrity,  and  as  many  as  among 
their  better  instructed  masters,  of  benevolence, 
gratitude,  and  unshaken  fidelity. 

The  opinion  that  they  are  inferior  in  the  faculties 
of  reason  and  imagination  must  be  hazarded  with 
great  diffidence ;  ...  let  me  add,  too,  as  a  cir- 
cumstance of  great  tenderness,  where  our  conclu- 
sion would  degrade  a  whole  race  of  men  from  the 
rank  in  the  scale  of  beings  which  their  Creator 
may,  perhaps,  have  given  them.  —  1781.  Notes, 
etc.  p.  211. 

There  must,  doubtless,  be  an  unhappy  influence 
on  the  manners  of  our  people  produced  by  the  ex- 
istence of  slavery  among  us.  The  whole  com- 
merce between,  master  and  slave  is  a  perpetual 
exercise  of  the  most  boisterous  passions,  the  most 
unremitting  despotism  on  the  one  part,  and  de- 
grading submissions  on  the  other.  Our  children 
see  this,  and  learn  to  imitate  it ;  for  man  is  an  im- 
itative animal.  This  quality  is  the  germ  of  all 
education  in  him.  From  his  cradle  to  his  grave 
he  is  learning  to  do  what  he  sees  others  do.  If  a 
parent  could  find  no  motive  either  in  his  philan- 


THOMAS   JEFFERSON.  95 

thropy,  or  his  self-love,  for  restraining  the  intem- 
perance of  passion  towards  his  slave,  it  should 
always  be  a  sufficient  one  that  his  child  is  present. 
But  generally  it  is  not  sufficient.  The  parent 
storms,  the  child  looks  on,  catches  the  lineaments 
of  wrath,  puts  on  the  same  airs  to  the  circle  of 
smaller  slaves,  gives  aloose  to  the  worst  of  pas- 
sions, and  thus  nursed,  educated,  and  daily  exer- 
cised, cannot  but  be  stamped  by  it  with  odious 
peculiarities.  The  man  must  be  a  prodigy  who 
can  retain  his  manners  and  morals  undepravcd  by 
such  circumstances.  And  with  what  execration 
should  the  statesman  be  loaded,  who,  permitting 
one-half  the  citizens  thus  to  trample  on  the  rights 
of  the  other,  transforms  those  into  despots,  and 
these  into  enemies  ;  destroys  the  morals  of  the  one 
part,  and  the  amor  patriae  of  the  other.  For  if  a 
slave  can  have  a  country  in  this  world,  it  must  be 
any  other  in  preference  to  that  in  which  he  is 
born  to  live  and  labor  for  another,  in  which  he 
must  lock  up  the  faculties  of  his  nature,  contrib- 
ute, as  far  as  depends  on  his  individual  endeavors, 
to  the  evanishment  of  the  human  race,  or  entail 
his  own  miserable  condition  on  the  endless  genera- 
tions proceeding  from  him. 

With  the  morals  of  the  people  their  industry 
also  is  destroyed.  For  in  a  warm  climate  no  man 
will  labor  for  himself  who  can  make  another  labor 
for  him.  This  is  so  true,  that  of  the  proprietors 


96  CHIPS    FROM    THE    WHITE    HOUSE. 

of  slaves  a  very  small  proportion  indeed  are  ever 
seen  to  labor. 

And  can  the  liberties  of  a  nation  be  thought 
secure  when  we  have  removed  their  only  firm 
basis,  a  conviction  in  the  minds  of  the  people  that 
these  liberties  are  of  the  gift  of  God ;  that  they  are 
not  to  be  violated  but  with  his  wrath  ?  Indeed  I 
tremble  for  my  country  when  I  reflect  that  God  is 
just ;  that  his  justice  cannot  sleep  for  ever ;  that 
considering  numbers,  nature,  and  natural  means 
only,  a  revolution  of  the  wheel  of  fortune,  an  ex- 
change of  situation  is  among  possible  events  ;  that 
it  may  become  probable  by  supernatural  inter- 
ference !  The  Almighty  has  no  attribute  which 
can  take  side  with  us  in  such  a  contest.  —  1781. 
Notes,  etc.,  p.  240. 

What  an  incomprehensible  machine  is  man ! 
who  can  endure  toil,  famine,  strife,  imprisonment, 
and  death  itself,  in  vindication  of  his  own  liberty, 
and  the  next  moment  be  deaf  to  all  those  motives 
whose  power  supported  him  through  his  trial,  and 
inflict  on  his  fellow-man  a  bondage,  one  hour  of 
which  is  fraught  with  more  misery  than  ages  of 
that  which  he  rose  in  rebellion  to  oppose.  —  Letter 
to  a  friend. 

We  must  wait  with  patience  the  workings  of  an 
overruling  Providence,  and  hope  that  that  is  pre- 
paring the  deliverance  of  these  our  brethren. 


THOMAS   JEFFERSON.  97 

"When  the  measure  of  their  tears  shall  be  full, 
when  their  groans  shall  have  involved  Heaven 
itself  in  darkness,  doubtless  a  God  of  justice  will 
awaken  to  their  distress.  Nothing  is  more  cer- 
tainly written  in  the  Book  of  Fate  than  that  this 
people  shall  be  free.  — 1778. 

I  served  with  General  Washington,  in  the  legis- 
lature of  Virginia,  before  the  revolution,  and, 
during  it,  with  Dr.  Franklin,  in  Congress.  I 
never  heard  either  of  them  speak  ten  minutes  at  a 
time,  nor  to  any  but  the  main  point,  which  was  to 
decide  the  question.  They  laid  their  shoulders  to 
the  great  points,  knowing  that  the  little  ones 
would  follow  of  themselves. —  Writings,  Vol.  I., 
p.  47. 

It  is  not  by  the  consolidation  or  concentration 
of  powers,  but  by  their  distribution,  that  good 
government  is  efiected.  Were  not  this  great 
country  already  divided  into  States,  that  division 
must  be  made  ;  that-  each  might  do  for  itself  what 
concerns  itself  directly,  and  what  it  can  so  much 
better  do  than  a  distant  authority.  Every  State 
again  is  divided  into  counties,  each  to  take  care  of 
what  lies  within  its  local  bounds ;  each  county 
again  into  townships,  or  wards,  to  manage  minuter 
details ;  and  every  ward  into  farms,  to  be  gov- 
erned each  by  its  individual  proprietor.  Were  we 
directed  from  Washington  when  to  sow,  and  when 


98  CHIPS   FROM   THE   WHITE    HOUSE. 

to  reap,  we  should  soon  want  bread.  It  is  by  this 
partition  of  cares,  descending  in  gradation  from 
general  to  particular,  that  the  mass  of  human 
affairs  may  be  best  managed,  for  the  good  and 
prosperity  of  all. —  Writings,  Vol.  I.,  p.  66. 

[Letter  to  Peter  Carr,  Aug.  19,  1785.] 

Give  up  money,  give  up  fame,  give  up 

science,  give  the  earth  itself  and  all  it  contains, 
rather  than  do  an  immoral  act.  .  .  .  Whenever 
you  are  to  do  a  thing,  though  it  can  never  be 
known  but  to  yourself,  ask  yourself  how  you 
would  act,  were  all  the  world  looking  at  you,  and 
act  accordingly.  ...  If  ever  you  find  yourself 
environed  with  difficulties  and  perplexing  circum- 
stances, out  of  which  you  are  at  a  loss  how  to 
extricate  yourself,  do  what  is  right,  and  be  assured 
that  that  will  extricate  you  the  best  out  of  the 
worst  situations.  Though  you  cannot  see,  when 
you  take  one  step,  what  will  be  the  next,  yet  follow 
truth,  justice,  and  plain  dealing,  and  never  fear 
their  leading  you  out  of  the  labyrinth,  in  the  easi- 
est manner  possible.  .  .  .  Nothing  is  so  mistaken 
as  the  supposition  that  a  person  is  to  extricate 
himself  from  a  difficulty  by  intrigue,  by  chicanery, 
by  dissimulation,  by  trimming,  by  an  untruth,  by 
an  injustice.  This  increases  the  difficulties  ten- 
fold ;  and  those  who  pursue  these  methods  get 
themselves  so  involved  at  length,  that  they  can 


THOMAS   JEFFERSON.  99 

turn  no  way  but  their  infamy  becomes  more  ex- 
posed. It  is  of  great  importance  to  set  a  resolu- 
tion not  to  be  shaken,  never  to  tell  an  untruth. 
...  This  falsehood  of  the  tongue  leads  to  that 
of  the  heart,  and  in  time  depraves  all  its  good 
dispositions. —  Writings,  Vol.  I.,  285. 

[To  a  friend  who  had  invited  him  to  share  in  some  promis- 
ing business  enterprise,  he  replied]  : 

When  I  first  entered  on  the  stage  of  public  life 
(now  twenty-four  years  ago) ,  I  came  to  a  resolu- 
tion never  to  engage,  while  in  public  office,  in  any 
kind  of  enterprise  for  the  improvement  of  my  for- 
tune, nor  to  wear  any  other  character  than  that  of 
a  farmer.  I  have  never  departed  from  it  in  a  sin- 
gle instance ;  and  I  have,  in  multiplied  instances, 
found  myself  happy  in  being  able  to  decide  and  to 
act  as  a  public  servant,  clear  of  all  interest,  in  the 
multiform  questions  that  have  arisen,  wherein  I 
have  seen  others  embarrassed  and  biassed  by  hav- 
ing got  themselves  in  a  more  interested  situation. 
Then  I  have  thought  myself  richer  in  contentment 
than  I  should  have  been  with  any  increase  of 
fortune.  Certainly  I  should  have  been  much 
wealthier  had  I  remained  in  that  private  condi- 
tion which  renders  it  lawful  and  even  laudable  to 
use  proper  efforts  to  better  it. 

An  honest  heart  being  the  first  blessing,  a  know- 
ing head  is  the  second.  —  Writings. 


100  CHIPS   FKOM   THE   WHITE    HOUSE. 

The  object  of  walking  is  to  relax  the  mind.  You 
should  therefore  not  permit  yourself  even  to  think 
while  you  walk,  but  direct  your  attention  by  the 
objects  surrounding  you.  Walking  is  the  best 
possible  exercise. — Vol.  I.,  p.  287. 

The  modern  Greek  is  not  yet  so  far  departed 
from  its  ancient  model,  but  that  we  might  still 
hope  to  see  the  language  of  Homer  and  Demosthe- 
nes flow  with  purity  from  the  lips  of  a  free  and 
ingenious  people. — Vol.  I.,  p.  289. 

You  have  formed  a  just  opinion  of  Monroe.    He 
is  a  man  whose  soul  might  be  turned  wrong  side  :' 
outward,   without  discovering   a   blemish   to   the 
world.— Vol.  II.,  p.  15. 

I  think  that  by  far  the  most  important  bill  in 
our  whole  code,  is  that  for  the  difliLsion  of  knowl- 
edge among  the  people.  No  other  sure  founda- 
tion can  be  devised  for  the  preservation  of  freedom 
and  happiness.  If  anybody  thinks  that  kings, 
.nobles,  or  priests  are  good  conservators  of  the 
public  happiness,  send  him  here.  It  is  the  best 
school  in  the  universe  to  cure  him  of  that  folly. 
He  will  see  here,  with  his  own  eyes,  that  these 
descriptions  of  men  arc  an  abandoned  confederacy 
against  the  happiness  of  the  mass  of  the  people. — 
Letter  from  Paris,  1786,  Vol.  II.,  45. 


THOMAS    JEFFERSON.  101 

Preach  a  crusade  against  ignorance ;  establish 
and  improve  the  law  for  educating  the  common 
people. 

The  Virginia  act  for  religious  freedom  has  been 
received  with  infinite  approbation  in  Europe,  and 
propagated  with  enthusiasm.  I  do  not  mean  by 
the  governments,  but  by  the  individuals  who  com- 
pose them.  It  has  been  translated  into  French 
and  Italian,  has  been  sent  to  most  of  the  courts  of 
Europe,  and  has  been  the  best  evidence  of  the 
falsehood  of  those  reports  which  stated  us  to  be  in 
anarchy.  It  is  inserted  in  the  new  Encyclopedie 
and  is  appearing  in  most  ot  the  publications  re- 
specting America.  In  fact,  it  is  comfortable  to  see 
the  standard  of  reason  at  length  erected,  after  so 
many  ages,  during  which  the  human  mind  has 
been  held  in  vassalage  by  kings,  priests,  and  nobles, 
and  it  is  honorable  for  us  to  have  produced  the  first 
legislature  who  had  the  courage  to  declare  that  the 
reason  of  man  may  be  trusted  with  the  formation 
of  his  own  opinions. — Vol.  II.,  p.  64.  1786. 

The  rights  of  conscience  we  never  submitted, 
we  could  not  submit.  "VVe  are  answerable  for  them 
to  our  God.  The  legitimate  powers  of  government 
extend  to  such  acts  only  as  are  injurious  to  others. 
But  it  does  me  no  injury  for  my  neighbor  to  say 
there  are  twenty  gods,  or  no  god.  It  neither  picks 


102  CHIPS   FROM   THE   WHITE    HOUSE. 

my  pocket  nor  breaks  my  leg,  If  it  be  said  his 
testimony  in  a  court  of  justice  cannot  be  relied  on, 
reject  it  then,  and  be -the  stigma  on  him.  Con- 
straint may  make  him  worse  by  making  him  a 
hypocrite,  but  it  will  never  make  him  a  truer  man. 
It  may  fix  him  obstinately  in  his  errors,  but  will 
not  cure  them.  Reason  and  free  inquiry  are  the 
only  effectual  agents  against  error.  Give  aloose 
to  them,  they  will  support  the  true  religion,  by 
bringing  every  false  one  to  their  tribunal,  to  the 
test  of  their  investigation.  They  are  the  natural 
enemies  of  error,  and  of  error  only.  — Notes. 

[From  the  Declaration  of  Independence.] 

When,  in  the  course  of  human  events,  it  be- 
comes necessary  for  one  people  to  dissolve  the 
political  bands  which  have  connected  them  with 
another,  and  to  assume,  among  the  powers  of  the 
earth,  the  separate  and  equal  station  to  which  the 
laws  of  nature  and  of  nature's  God  entitle  them,  a 
decent  respect  to  the  opinions  of  mankind  requires 
that  they  should  declare  the  causes  which  impel 
them  to  the  separation. 

We  hold  these  truths  to  be  self-evident,  that  all 
men  are  created  equal ;  that  they  are  endowed  by 
their  Creator  with  certain  unalienable  rights  ;  that 
among  these  are  life,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit  of 
happiness.  That,  to  secure  these  rights,  govern- 
ments are  instituted  among  men,  deriving  their 


THOMAS    JEFFEKSON.  103 

just  powers  from  the  consent  of  the  governed; 
that,  whenever  any  form  of  government  becomes 
destructive  of  these  ends,  it  is  the  right  of  the 
people  to  alter  or  to  abolish  it,  and  to  institute  a 
new  government,  laying  its  foundation  on  such 
principles,  and  organizing  its  power  in  such  form, 
as  to  them  shall  seem  most  likely  to  effect  their 
safety  and  happiness.  Prudence,  indeed,  will  dic- 
tate that  governments  long  established  should  not 
be  changed  for  light  and  transient  causes ;  and, 
accordingly,  all  experience  hath  shown,  that  man- 
kind are  more  disposed  to  suffer,  while  evils  are 
sufferable,  than  to  right  themselves  by  abolishing 
the  forms  to  which  they  are  accustomed.  But, 
when  a  long  train  of  abuses  and  usurpations,  pur- 
suing invariably  the  same  object,  evinces  a  design 
to  reduce  them  under  absolute  despotism,  it  is 
their  right,  it  is  their  duty,  to  throw  off  such  gov- 
ernment, and  to  provide  new  guards  for  then:  fu- 
ture security. 

[A  passage  in  the  original  draft  of  the  Declaration  of  In- 
dependence, which  was  stricken  out  by  Congress.*] 

He  [George  HE.]  has  waged  cruel  war  against 
human  nature  itself,  violating  its  most  sacred  rights 
of  life  and  liberty  in  the  persons  of  a  distant  peo- 

*  The  clause  reprobating  the  enslaving  the  inhabitants  of 
Africa  was  struck  out  in  complaisance  to  South  Carolina  and 
Georgia,  who  had  never  attempted  to  restrain  the  importa- 
tion of  slaves,  and  who,  on  the  contrary,  still  wished  to  con- 


104  CHIPS   FKOM   THE   WHITE   HOUSE. 

pie  who  never  offended  him,  captivating  and  carry- 
ing them  into  slavery  in  another  hemisphere,  or  to 
incur  miserable  death  in  their  transportation  thither. 
This  piratical  warfare,  the  opprobrium  of  INFIDEL 
powers,  is  the  warfare  of  the  CHRISTIAN  king  of 
Great  Britain.  Determined  to  keep  open  a  mar- 
ket where  MEN  should  be  bought  and  sold,  he  has 
prostituted  his  negative  for  suppressing  every 
legislative  attempt  to  prohibit  or  restrain  this 
execrable  commerce.  And  that  this  assemblage 
of  horrors  might  want  no  fact  of  distinguished 
dye,  he  is  now  exciting  those  very  people  to  rise 
in  arms  among  us,  and  to  purchase  that  liberty  of 
which  he  has  deprived  them,  by  murdering  the 
people  on  whom  he  has  obtruded  them  ;  thus  pay- 
ing off  former  crimes  committed  against  the 
LIBERTIES  of  one  people,  with  crimes  which  he 
urges  them  to  commit  against  the  lives  of  an- 
other. 

The  man  who  fights  for  the  country  is  entitled 
to  vote. 

"One   must  be   astonished,"    says    the    Abbe 
Kaynal,*  "  that  America  has  not  yet  produced  a 

tinuc  it.  Our  northern  brethren,  also,  I  believe,  felt  a  little 
tender  under  those  censures ;  for  though  their  people  had 
very  few  slaves  themselves,  yet  they  had  been  pretty  con- 
siderable carriers  of  them  to  others.  — THOMAS  JEFFERSON, 
Writings,  Vol.  I.,  p.  15. 
*  Died,  1796. 


THOMAS   JEFFERSON.  105 

good  poet,  an  able  mathematician,  one  man  of 
genius  in  a  single  act  or  a  single  science." 

"America  has  not  yet  produced  one  good  poet." 
When  we  shall  have  existed  as  a  people  as  long  as 
the  Greeks  did  before  they  produced  a  Homer,  the 
Romans  a  Virgil,  tho  French  a  Eacine  and  Vol- 
taire, the  English  a  Shakespeare  and  Milton,  should 
this  reproach  be  still  true,  we  will  inquire  from 
what  unfriendly  causes  it  has  proceeded,  that  the 
other  countries  of  Europe  and  quarters  of  the 
earth  shall  not  have  inscribed  any  name  in  the  roll 
of  poets.  Has  the  world  as  yet  produced  more 
than  two  poets  acknowledged  to  be  such  by  all 
nations  ?  An  Englishman  only  reads  Milton  with 
delight,  an  Italian  Tasso,  a  Frenchman  Henriade, 
a  Portuguese  Carnoens,  but  Homer  and  Virgil  have 
been  the  rapture  of  every  age  and  nation ;  they 
are  read  with  enthusiasm  in  their  originals  by 
those  who  can  read  the  originals,  and  in  transla- 
tions by  those  who  cannot.* 

But  neither  has  America  produced  "one  able 
mathematician,  one  man  of  genius  in  a  single  art 
or  a  single  science."  In  war  we  have  produced  a 
Washington,  whose  memory  will  be  adored  while 
liberty  shall  have  votaries ;  whose  name  will  tri- 
umph over  time,  and  will  in  future  ages  assume  its 
just  station  among  the  most  celebrated  worthies  of 

*  This  sentence  has  been  transferred  from  a  note  to  the 
text. 


106  CHIPS  FROM  THE  WHITE   HOUSE. 

the  world,  when  that  wretched  philosophy  shall  be 
forgotten  which  would  have  arranged  him  among 
the  degeneracies  of  nature.*  In  physics  we  have 
produced  a  Franklin,  than  whom  no  one  of  the 
present  age  has  made  more  important  discoveries, 
nor  has  enriched  philosophy  with  more,  or  more 
ingenious,  solutions  of  the  phenomena  of  nature. 
We  have  supposed  Mr.  Rittenhouse  second  to  no 
astronomer  living ;  that  in  genius  he  must  be  the 
first,  because  he  is  self-taught.  As  an  artist  he 
has  exhibited  as  great  a  proof  of  mechanical  genius 
as  the  world  has  ever  produced. 

4-s  in  philosophy  and  war,  so  in  government, 
in  oratory,  in  painting,  in  the  plastic  art,  we  might 
show  that  America,  though  but  a  child  of  yester- 
day, has  already  given  hopeful  proofs  of  genius, 
as  well  as  of  the  nobler  kinds,  which  arouse  the 
best  feelings  of  man,  which  call  him  into  action, 
which  substantiate  his  freedom,  and  conduct  him 
to  happiness,  as  of  the  subordinnte,  which  serve  to 
amuse  him  only. 

We,  therefore,  suppose  that  this  reproach  is  as 
unjust  as  it  is  unkind ;  and  that,  of  the  geniuses 
which  adorn  the  present  age,  America  contributes 
its  full  share.  For  comparing  it  with  those  coun- 
tries where  genius  is  most  cultivated,  where  are 

*  Referring  to  Buffon's  theory  "  of  the  tendency  of  nature 
to  belittle  her  productions  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic." 


THOMAS   JEFFERSON.  107 

the  most  excellent  models  of  art,  and  scaffolding 
for  the  attainment  of  science,  as  France  and  Eng- 
land, for  instance,  we  calculate  thus :  The  United 
States  contain  3,000,000  of  inhabitants ;  France, 
20,000,000 ;  and  the  British  Islands,  10,000,000. 
We  produce  a  Washington,  a  Franklin,  a  Rit- 
tenhouse.  France,  then,  should  have  half  a  dozen 
in  each  of  these  lines,  and  Great  Britain  half  that 
number,  equally  eminent.  —  Notes,  p.  97. 

In  every  government  on  earth  is  some  trace  of 
human  weakness,  some  germ  of  corruption  and 
degeneracy,  which  cunning  will  discover,  and 
wickedness  insensibly  open,  cultivate,  and  im- 
prove. Every  government  degenerates  when 
trusted  to  the  rulers  of  the  people  alone.  The 
people  themselves  then  are  its  only  safe  deposito- 
ries. And  to  render  them  safe,  their  minds  must 
be  improved  to  a  certain  degree.  — 1781.  Notes, 
p.  220. 

But  are  there  no  inconveniences  to  be  thrown 
into  the  scale  against  the  advantage  expected  from 
a  multiplication  of  numbers  by  the  importation  of 
foreigners  ?  It  is  for  the  happiness  of  those  united 
in  society  to  harmonize  as  much  as  possible  in 
matters  which  they  must  of  necessity  transact 
together.  Civil  government  being  the  sole  object 
of  forming  societies,  its  administration  must  be 


108  CHIPS   FEOM   THE   WHITE   HOUSE. 

conducted  by  common  consent.  Every  species 
of  government  has  its  specific  principles.  Ours, 
perhaps,  are  more  peculiar  than  those  of  any  other 
in  the  universe.  It  is  a  composition  of  the  freest 
principles  of  the  English  constitution  \,  ith  others 
derived  from  natural  reason.  To  these  nothing 
can  be  more  opposed  than  the  maxims  of  absolute 
monarchies.  Yet  from  such  we  are  to  expect  the 
greatest  number  of  emigrants.  They  will  bring 
with  them  the  principles  of  the  governments  they 
leave,  imbibed  in  their  early  youth ;  or,  if  able  to 
throw  them  off,  it  will  be  in  exchange  for  an  un- 
bounded licentiousness,  passing,  as  is  usual,  from 
one  extreme  to  another.  It  would  be  a  miracle 
were  they  to  stop  precisely  at  the  point  of  tem- 
perate liberty.  These  principles,  with  their  lan- 
guage, they  will  transmit  to  their  children.  In 
proportion  to  their  numbers,  they  will  share  with 
us  the  legislation.  They  will  infuse  into  it  their 
spirit,  warp  and  bias  its  directions,  and  render  it 
a  heterogeneous,  incoherent,  distracted  mass.  .  .  . 
If  they  come  of  themselves,  they  are  entitled  to 
all  the  rights  of  citizenship ;  but  I  doubt  the 
expediency  of  inviting  them,  by  extraordinary  en- 
couragements.— 1781.  Notes,  p.  128. 

[Frbm  his  first  Inaugural  Address,  March  4,  1801.] 
Every  difference  of  opinion  is  not  a  difference 
of  principle.     We  have  called  by  different  names 


THOMAS   JEFFERSON.  109 

brethren  of  the  same  principle.  We  are  all  Re- 
publicans—  we  are  all  Federalists.  If  there  be 
any  among  us  who  would  wish  to  dissolve  this 
Union,  or  to  change  its  republican  form,  let  them 
stand  undisturbed,  as  monuments  of  the  safety 
with  which  error  of  opinion  may  be  tolerated 
where  reason  is  left  free  to  combat  it. 

Sometimes  it  is  said  that  man  cannot  be  trusted 
with  the  government  of  himself.  Can  he  then  be 
trusted  with  the  government  of  others  ?  Or  have 
we  found  angels  in  the  form  of  kings  to  govern 
him?  Let  history  answer  the  question. 

Peace,  commerce,  and  honest  friendship  with  all 
nations  —  entangling  alliances  with  none. 

March  23,  1804. 

I  am  in  hopes  .   .   .  they  will  find  that 

the  Christian  religion,  when  divested  of  the  rags 
in  which  they  have  enveloped  it,  and  brought  to 
the  original  purity  and  simplicity  of  its  benevolent 
institutor,  is  a  religion  above  all  others  most 
friendly  to  liberty,  science,  and  the  freest  ex- 
pression of  the  human  mind. 

March  29,  1801. 

Civil  Service. — The  right  of  opinion  shall  suffer 
no  invasion  from  me.*  Those  who  have  acted  well, 

*  He  had  just  become  President. 


110  CHIPS   FROM   THE   WHITE   HOUSE. 

have  nothing  to  fear;  those  who  have  done  ill, 
however,  have  nothing  to  hope  ;  nor  shall  I  fail  to 
do  justice,  lest  it  should  be  ascribed  to  that  differ- 
ence of  opinion. 

Had  the  doctrines  of  Jesus  been  preached  al- 
ways as  pure  as  they  came  from  his  lips,  the  whole 
civilized  world  would  now  have  been  Christian.  — 
June  26,  1822. 

[Letter  to  S.  A.  Wells,  May  12,  1829.] 

SAMUEL  ADAMS  :  I  can  say  that  he  was  truly  a 
great  man,  wise  in  council,  fertile  in  resources, 
immovable  in  his  purposes,  and  had,  I  think, 
a  greater  share  than  any  other  member  [of  Con- 
gress] ,  in  advising  and  directing  our  measures  in 
the  Northern  war.  As  a  speaker,  he  could  not  be 
compared  with  his  living  colleague  and  namesake,* 
whose  deep  conceptions,  nervous  style,  and  un- 
daunted firmness,  made  him  truly  our  bulwark  in 
debate.  But  Mr.  Samuel  Adams,  although  not  of 
fluent  elocution,  was  so  vigorously  logical,  so  clear 
in  his  views,  abundant  in  good  sense,  and  master 
always  of  his  subject,  that  he  commanded  the 
most  profound  attention  whenever  he  rose  in  an 
assembly,  by  which  the  froth  of  declamation  was 
heard  with  the  most  sovereign  contempt.  —  Writ' 
ings,  Vol.  /.,  99. 

*  John  Adams. 


JAMES   MADISON.  Ill 


JAMES    MADISON. 

BORN,  1751;  DIED,  1836,  AGED  85.— ENTERED  PRINCETON  COL- 
LEGE, 1769.— BEGAN  PRACTICE  OF  LAW,  1772.— MEMBER  OF 
VIRGINIA  CONVENTION,  1776.  — OF  THE  GENERAL  ASSEM- 
BLY, 1776.— OF  CONGRESS,  1780.  — OF  THE  GENERAL  ASSEM- 
BLY, 1784.  — OF  THE  CONVENTION  WHICH  FRAMED  THE 
CONSTITUTION  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES,  1787.  —  OF  THE 
VIRGINIA  CONVENTION,  1788.  —  OF  CONGRESS,  1789.  —  PRESI- 
DENT, 1809-1817. 

ORANGE  Co.,  VA.,  November  9,  1722. 

"  I  THINK  you  make  a  judicious  choice  of  history 
and  the  science  of  morals  for  your  winter's  study. 
They  seem  to  be  of  the  most  universal  benefit  to 
men  of  sense  and  taste  in  every  post,  and  must 
certainly  be  of  great  use  to  youth  in  settling  their 
principles  and  refining  their  judgment,  as  well  as 
in  enlarging  knowledge  and  correcting  the  imagi- 
nation. I  doubt  not  but  you  design  to  season 
them  with  a  little  divinity  now  and  then,  which, 
like  the  philosopher's  stone,  in  the  hands  of  a  good 
man,  will  turn  them  and  every  lawful  acquirement 
into  the  nature  of  itself,  and  make  them  more  pre- 
cious than  fine  gold.  .  .  .  Pray  do  not  suffer 
those  impertinent  fops  that  abound  in  every  city  to 
divert  you  from  your  business  and  philosophical 
amusements.  ...  I  am  luckily  out  of  the  way 


112  CHIPS    FEOM   THE    WHITE   HOUSE. 

of  such  troubles,  but  I  know  you  are  surrounded 
with  them  ;  for  they  breed  in  towns  and  populous 
places  as  naturally  as  flies  do  in  the  shambles,  be- 
cause there  they  get  food  enough  for  their  vanity 
and  impertinence." 


[To  William  Bradford,  Jr.,  Philadelphia.] 

ORANGE  Co.,  VA.,  1774. 

"  If  the  Church  of  England  had  been  the  estab- 
lished and  general  religion  of  all  the  Northern 
Colonies,  as  it  has  been  among  us  here,  and  unin- 
terrupted tranquillity  had  prevailed  throughout  tho 
continent,  it  is  clear  to  me  that  slavery  and  subjec- 
tion might  and  would  have  been  gradually  insinu- 
ated among  us.  Union  of  religious  sentiments 
begets  a  surprising  confidence,  and  ecclesiastical 
establishments  tend  to  great  ignorance  and  cor- 
ruption ;  all  of  which  facilitates  the  execution  of 
mischievous  projects 

"  I  want  again  to  breathe  your  free  air.  I  expect 
it  will  mend  my  constitution  and  confirm  my  prin- 
ciples. I  have  indeed  as  good  an  atmosphere  at 
home  as  the  climate  will  allow ;  but  have  nothing 
to  brag  of  as  to  the  state  and  liberty  of  my  coun- 
try. Poverty  and  luxury  prevail  among  all  sorts  ; 
pride,  ignorance,  and  knavery  among  the  priest- 
hood, and  vice  and  wickedness  among  the  laity. 
This  is  bad  enough,  but  it  is  not  the  worst  I  have 


JAMES   MADISON.  113 

to  tell  you.  That  diabolical,  hell-conceived  prin- 
ciple of  persecution  rages  among  some ;  and  to 
their  eternal  infamy,  the  clergy  *  can  furnish  their 
quota  of  imps  for  such  business.  This  vexes  me 
the  most  of  anything  whatever.  There  are  at  this 
time  in  the  adjacent  county  not  less  than  five  or 
six  well-meaning  men  in  close  jail  for  publishing 
their  religious  sentiments,  which  in  the  main  are 
very  orthodox.  I  have  neither  patience  to  hear, 
talk,  or  think  of  anything  relative  to  this  matter ; 
for  I  have  squabbled  and  scolded,  abused  and  ridi- 
culed so  long  about  it  to  little  purpose,  that  I  am 
without  common  patience.  So  I  fnust  beg  you  to 
pity  me,  and  pray  for  liberty  of  conscience  for 
all." 

[To  Mr.  Bradford,  Philadelphia,  1774.] 

"  Our  Assembly  is  to  meet  the  first  of  May, 
when  it  is  expected  something  will  be  dono  in 
behalf  of  the  dissenters.  Petitions,  I  hear,  are 
already  forming  among  the  persecuted  Baptists, 
and  I  fancy  it  is  in  the  thoughts  of  the  Presby- 
terians also  to  intercede  for  greater  liberty  in 
matters  of  religion.  .  .  .  The  sentiments  of  our 
people  of  fortune  and  fashion  on  this  subject  are 
vastly  different  from  what  you  have  been  used  to. 
That  liberal,  catholic,  and  equitable  way  of  think- 
ing, as  to  the  rights  of  conscience,  which  is  one  of 

*  Of  the  then  established  church,  —  the  church  of  England. 


114  CHIPS   FEOM   THE   WHITE   HOUSE. 

the  characteristics  of  a  free  people,  and  so  strongly 
marks  the  people  of  your  Province,  is  but  little 
known  among  the  zealous  adherents  of  our  hie- 
rarchy. "VVe  have,  it  is  true.,  some  persons  in  the 
legislature  of  generous  principles  both  in  Religion 
and  Politics ;  but  number,  not  merit,  you  know, 
is  necessary  to  carry  points  there.  Besides,  the 
clergy  [of  the  church  of  England]  are  a  numerous 
and  powerful  body,  have  great  influence  at  home 
by  reason  of  their  connection  with  and  dependence 
on  the  Bishops  and  Crown,  and  will  naturally  em- 
ploy all  their  art  and  interest  to  depress  their 
rising  adversaries,  for  such  they  must  consider 
dissenters,  who  rob  them  of  the  good-will  of  the 
people,  and  may  in  time  endanger  their  livings 
and  security.  You  are  happy  in  dwelling  in  a 
land  where  those  inestimable  privileges  are  fully 
enjoyed,  and  the  public  has  long  felt  the  good 
effects  of  this  religious  as  well  as  civil  liberty." 


[From  an  address  to  the  States,  April,  1783.     Adopted  by 
Congress.] 

Let  it  be  remembered  that  it  has  ever  been  the 
pride  and  boast  of  America  that  the  rights  for 
which  she  contended  were  the  rights  of  human 
nature.  By  the  blessing  of  the  Author  of  these 
rights  on  the  means  exerted  for  their  defence,  they 
have  prevailed  over  all  opposition,  and  form  the 


JAMES   MADISON.  115 

basis  of  thirteen  independent  states.  No  instance 
has  heretofore  occurred,  nor  can  any  instance  be  - 
expected  hereafter  to  occur,  in  which  the  unadul- 
terated forms  of  republican  government  can  pre- 
tend to  so  fair  an  opportunity  of  justifying  them- 
selves by  their  fruits.  In  this  view  the  citizens  of 
the  United  States  are  responsible  for  the  greatest 
trust  ever  confided  to  a  political  society.  If  jus- 
tice, good  faith,  honor,  gratitude,  and  all  other 
qualities  which  ennoble  the  character  of  a  nation, 
and  fulfil  the  ends  of  government,  be  the.  fruits  of 
our  establishment,  the  cause  of  liberty  will  ac- 
quire a  dignity  and  lustre  which  it  has  never  yet 
enjoyed,  and  an  example  will  be  set  which  cannot 
but  have  the  most  favorable  influence  on  the  rights 
of  mankind.  If,  on  the  other  side,  our  govern- 
ments should  be  unfortunately  blotted  with  the 
reverse  of  these  cardinal  and  essential  virtues,  the 
great  cause  which  we  have  engaged  to  vindicate 
will  be  dishonored  and  betrayed;  the  last  and- 
fairest  experiment  in  favor  of  the  rights  of  human 
nature  will  be  turned  against  them,  and  their 
patrons  and  friends  exposed  to  be  insulted  and 
silenced  by  the  votaries  of  tyranny  and  usurpation. 

It  were  doubtless  to  be  wished  that  the 

power  of  prohibiting  the  importation  of  slaves  had 
not  been  postponed  until  the  year  1808,  or  rather 
that  it  had  been  suffered  to  have  immediate  opera- 


116  CHIPS   FROM   THE   WHITE   HOUSE. 

tion.  But  it  is  not  difficult  to  account  either  for 
this  restriction  on  the  general  government,  or  for 
the  manner  in  which  the  whole  clause  is  expressed. 
It  ought  to  be  considered  as  a  great  point  gained 
in  favor  of  humanity,  that  a  period  of  twenty 
years  may  terminate  forever  within  these  states 
a  traffic  which  has  so  long  and  so  loudly  upbraided 
the  barbarism  of  modern  policy  ;  that  within  that 
period  it  will  receive  a  considerable  discouragement 
from  the  federal  government,  and  may  be  totally 
abolished  by  the  concurrence  of  a  few  states  which 
continue  the  unnatural  traffic,  in  the  prohibitory 
example  which  has  been  given  by  so  great  a  ma- 
jority of  the  Union.  Happy  would  it  be  for  the 
unfortunate  Africans  if  an  equal  prospect  lay  be- 
fore them  of  being  redeemed  from  the  oppression 
of  their  European  brethren  !  —  Federalist,  No.  xlii. 

The  British  constitution  was  to  Montesquieu 

what  Homer  has  been  to  the  didactic  writers  on 
epic  poetry.  As  the  latter  have  considered  the 
work  of  the  immortal  bard  as  the  perfect  model 
from  which  the  principles  and  rules  of  the  epic 
art  were  to  be  drawn,  and  by  which  all  similar 
works  were  to  be  judged ;  so  this  great  political 
critic  appears  to  have  viewed  the  constitution  of 
England  as  the  standard,  or,  to  use  his  own  ex- 
pression, as  the  mirror  of  political  liberty.  — 
Federalist,  No.  xlvii. 


JAMES   MADISON.  117 

A  popular  government,  without  popular  infor- 
mation, or  the  means  of  acquiring  it,  is  but  a  pro- 
logue to  a  farce  or  a  tragedy,  or  perhaps  to  both. 

The  great  security  against  the  gradual  concen- 
tration of  the  several  powers  in  the  same  depart- 
ment, consists  in  giving  to  those  who  administer 
each  department  the  necessary  constitutional 
means  and  personal  motives  to  resist  encroach- 
ments of  the  others.  The  provision  for  defence 
must  in  this,  as  in  all  other  cases,  be  made  com- 
mensurate to  the  danger  of  attack.  Ambition 
must  be  made  to  counteract  ambition.  The  inter- 
est of  the  man  must  be  connected  with  the  consti- 
tutional rights  of  the  place.  It  may  be  a  reflec- 
tion on  human  nature  that  such  devices  should  be 
necessary  to  control  the  abuses  of  government. 
But  what  is  government  itself  but  the  greatest  of 
all  reflections  on  human  nature !  If  men  were 
angels,  no  government  would  be  necessary.  If 
angels  were  to  govern  men,  neither  external  nor 
internal  controls  on  government  would  be  neces- 
sary. In  framing  a  government  which  is  to  be 
administered  by  men  over  men,  the  great  difficulty 
lies  in  this  :  you  must  first  enable  the  government 
to  control  the  governed ;  and  in  the  next  place 
oblige  it  to  control  itself.  A  dependence  on  the 
people  is  no  doubt  the  primary  control  on  the 
government;  but  experience  has  taught  mankind 


118  CHIPS   FROM   THE   WHITE   HOUSE. 

the  necessity  of  auxiliary  precautions. — Federalist, 
No.  li. 

Justice  is  the  end  of  government.  It  is  the  end 
of  civil  society.  It  ever  has  been,  and  ever  will 
be,  pursued  until  it  be  obtained,  or  until  liberty  be 
lost  in  the  pursuit.  In  a  society  under  the  form 
of  which  the  stronger  faction  can  unite  and  oppress 
the  weaker,  anarchy  may  as  truly  be  said  to  reign 
as  in  a  state  of  nature,  where  the  weaker  individual 
is  not  secured  against  the  violence  of  the  stronger ; 
and  as  in  the  latter  state,  even  the  stronger  indi- 
viduals are  prompted,  by  the  uncertainty  of  their 
condition,  to  submit  to  a  government  which  may 
protect  the  weak  as  well  as  themselves,  so  in  the 
former  state,  will  the  more  powerful  factions  or 
parties  be  gradually  induced,  by  a  like  motive,  to 
wish  for  a  government  which  will  protect  all  par- 
ties, the  weaker  as  well  as  the  more  powerful.  .  .  . 
And  happily  for  the  republican  cause,  the  practi- 
cable sphere  may  be  carried  to  a  very  great  extent 
by  a  judicious  modification  and  mixture  of  the  fed- 
eral principle. 

[To  Thomas  Jefferson.] 

NEW  York,  October  17,  1788. 

Wherever  the  real  power  in  a  government  re- 
sides, there  is  the  danger  of  oppression.  In  our 
government  the  real  power  lies  in  the  majority  of 


JAMES   MADISON.  119 

the  community,  and  the  invasion  of  private  rights 
is  chiefly  to  be  apprehended,  not  from  acts  of  gov- 
ernment contrary  to  the  sense  of  its  constituents, 
but  from  acts  in  which  the  government  is  the  mere 
instrument  of  the  major  number  of  the  constit- 
uents. This  is  a  truth  of  great  importance,  but 
not  yet  sufficiently  attended  to.  ...  Wherever 
there  is  an  interest  and  power  to  do  wrong,  wrrong 
will  generally  be  done,  and  not  more  readily  by  a 
powerful  and  interested  party  than  by  a  powerful 
and  interested  prince.  The  difference,  so  far  as  it 
relates  to  the  superiority  of  republics  over  mon- 
archies, lies  in  the  less  degree  of  probability  that 
interest  may  prompt  abuses  of  power  in  the  former 
than  in  the  latter,  and  in  the  security  of  the  former 
against  an  oppression  of  more  than  the  smaller 
part  of  the  society,  whereas  in  the  latter,  it  may 
be  extended  in  a  manner  to  the  whole. 

[To  Thomas  Jefferson.] 

NEW  YORK,  May  23,  1789. 

My  last  enclosed  copies  of  the  President's  inau- 
gural speech,  and  the  answer  of  the  House  of 
Representatives.  I  now  add  the  answer  of  the 
Senate.  It  will  not  have  escaped  you  that  the 
former  was  addressed  with  a  truly  republican  sim- 
plicity to  George  Washington,  President  of  the 
United  States.  The  latter  follows  the  example, 
with  the  omission  of  the  personal  name,  but  with- 


120  CHIPS   FROM   THE   WHITE   HOUSE. 

out  any  other  than  the  constitutional  title.  The 
proceeding  on  this  point  was  in  the  House  of  Rep- 
resentatives spontaneous.  The  imitation  by  the 
Senate  was  extorted.  The  question  became  a 
serious  one  between  the  two  houses.  John  Adams 
espoused  the  cause  of  titles  with  great  earnestness. 
.  .  .  The  projected  title  was,  His  Highness  the 
President  of  the  United  States  and  Protector  of  their 
liberties.  Had  the  project  succeeded,  it  would 
have  subjected  the  President  to  a  severe  dilemma, 
and  given  a  deep  wound  to  our  infant  government. 

[To  Edmund  Randolph,  New  York,  1789.] 

I  think  it  best  to  give  the  Senate  as  little  agency 
as  possible  in  executive  matters,  and  to  make  the 
President  as  responsible  as  possible  in  them. 
Were  the  heads  of  departments  dependent  on  the 
senate,  a  faction  in  this  branch  might  support 
them  against  the  President,  distract  the  executive 
department,  and  obstruct  the  public  business.  The 
danger  of  undue  power  in  the  President  from  such 
a  regulation  is  not,  to  me,  formidable.  I  sec,  and 
politically  feel  that  that  will  be  the  weak  branch 
of  the  government. 

[From  a  message  to  Congress,  1803. 

The  war*  has  proved  that  our  free  govern- 
ment, like  other  free  governments,  though  slow  in 

*  The  war  of  1812-1815,  with  England. 


JAMES   MADISON.  121 

its  early  movements,  acquires  in  its  progress  a 
force  proportioned  to  its  freedom,  and  that  the 
union  of  these  states,  the  guardian  of  the  freedom 
and  safety  of  all  and  of  each,  is  strengthened  by 
every  occasion  that  puts  it  to  the  test. 

.  [Letter  to  Edward  Livingston,  1822.] 

I  observe  with  particular  pleasure  the 

view  you  have  taken  of  the  immunity  of  religion 
from  civil  jurisdiction  in  every  case  where  it  does 
not  trespass  on  private  rights  or  the  public  peace. 
This  has  always  been  a  favorite  principle  with 
me ;  and  it  was  not  with  my  approbation  that  the 
deviation  from  it  took  place  in  Congress  when 
they  appointed  chaplains  to  be  paid  from  the 
national  treasury.  It  would  have  been  a  much 
better  proof  to  their  constituents  of  their  pious 
feeling,  if  the  members  had  contributed  for  the 
purpose  a  pittance  from  their  own  pockets. 

There  has  been  another  deviation  from  the  strict 
principle  in  the  executive  proclamation  of  fasts  and 
festivals,  so  far,  at  least,  as  they  have  spoken  the 
language  of  injunction,  or  have  lost  sight  of  the 
equality  of  all  religious  sects  in  the  eye  of  the  con- 
stitution. Whilst  I  was  honored  with  the  execu- 
tive trust  I  found  it  necessary  on  more  than  one 
occasion  to  follow  the  example  of  predecessors. 
But  I  was  always  careful  to  make  the  proclama- 
tions absolutely  indiscriminate,  and  merely  recom- 
mendatory  


122  CHIPS  FKOM  THE  WHITE   HOUSE* 

It  was  the  belief  of  all  sects  at  one  time  that  the 
establishment  of  religion  by  law  was  right  and 
necessary  ;  that  the  true  religion  ought  to  be 
established  in  exclusion  of  every  other ;  and  that 
the  only  question  to  be  decided  was,  which  was 
the  true  religion.  .  .  .  We  are  teaching  the 
world  the  great  truth  that  governments  do  better 
without  kings  and  nobles  than  with  them.  The 
merit  will  be  doubled  by  the  other  lesson,  that 
religion  flourishes  in  greater  purity  without  than 
with  the  aid  of  government. 

[Letter  to  Mr.  Ringgold,  1831.] 

I  need  not  to  say  to  you  how  highly  I 

rated  the  comprehensiveness  and  character  of  his 
[Monroe's]  mind,  the  purity  and  nobleness  of  his 
principles,  the  importance  of  his  party  services, 
and  the  many  private  virtues  of  which  his  whole 
life  was  a  model. 

[Letter  to  I.  C.  Caball,  1831.] 

I  know  not  whence  the  idea  could  pro- 
ceed that  I  concurred  in  the  doctrine,  that  although 
a  state  could  not  nullify  a  law  of  the  Union,  it  had 
a  right  to  secede  from  the  Union.  Both  spring 
from  the  same  piosonous  root,  unless  the  right  to 
secede  be  limited  to  cases  of  intolerable  oppres- 
sion, absolving  the  party  from  its  constitutional 
obligations. 

I  hope  that  all  who  now  see  the  absurdity  of 


JAMES   MADISON.  123 

nullification  will  see  also  the  necessity  of  rejecting 
the  claim  to  effect  it  through  the  state  judiciaries, 
which  can  only  be  kept  in  the  constitutional  career 
by  the  control  of  the  federal  jurisdiction.  Take 
the  linch-pin  from  a  carriage,  and  how  soon  would 
a  wheel  be  off  its  axle,  —  an  emblem  of  the  speedy 
fate  of  the  federal  system  were  the  parties  to  it 
loosened  from  the  authority  which  confines  them 
to  their  sphere. 

[James  Monroe.]  Few  men  have  ever  made 
more  of  what  may  be  called  sacrifices  in  the  ser- 
vice of  the  public.  When  he  considered  the  inter- 
ests or  the  dignity  of  his  country  involved,  his 
own  interest  was  never  regarded.  Beside  this 
cause,  his  extreme  generosity,  not  only  to  the 
numerous  members  of  his  family  dependent  on 
him,  but  to  friends  not  united  by  blood,  has  greatly 
contributed  to  his  impoverishment. 

[To  J.  R,  Paulding,  1831.] 

[Alexander  Hamilton.]  That  he  possessed  in- 
tellectual powers  of  the  first  order,  and  the  moral 
quality  of  integrity  and  honesty  in  a  captivating 
degiee,  has  been  decreed  to  him  by  a  suffrage  now 
universal.  Of  his  theory  of  government,  deviating 
from  the  republican  standard,  he  had  the  candor 
to  avow  it,  and  the  greater  merit  of  co-operating 


124  CHIPS   FROM   THE    WHITE    HOUSE. 

faithfully  in   maturing   and  supporting  a  system 
which  was  not  his  choice. 

[Benjamin  Franklin.]  He  has  written  his  own 
life,  and  no  man  had  a  finer  one  to  write,  or  a 
better  title  to  be  himself  the  writer. 

[Thomas  Jefferson.]  It  may,  on  the  whole,  be 
truly  said  of  him,  that  he  was  greatly  eminent  for 
the  comprehensiveness  and  fertility  of  his  genius, 
for  the  vast  extent  and  rich  variety  of  his  acquisi- 
tions, and  particularly  distinguished  by  the  phil- 
osophical impress  left  on  every  subject  which  he 
touched.  Nor  was  he  -less  distinguished  for  an 
early  and  uniform  devotion  to  the  cause  of  liberty, 
and  systematic  preference  of  a  form  of  government 
squared  with  strictest  degree  to  the  rights  of  man. 
In  the  social  and  domestic  spheres,  he  was  a  model 
of  the  virtues  and  manners  which  most  adorn 
them. 

[John  Adams.]  That  he  had  a  mind  rich  in 
ideas  of  his  own,  as  well  as  its  learned  store,  with 
an  ardent  love  of  country,  and  the  merit  of  being 
a  colossal  champion  of  its  independence,  must  be 
allowed  by  those  most  offended  by  the  alloy  in 
his  republicanism,  and  the  fervors  and  flights  origi- 
nating in  his  moral  temperament. 


JAMES   MADISON.  125 

9 

[To  N.  P.  Trist,  1832.] 

I  have  received  yours  of  the  19th  De- 
cember, enclosing  some  of  the  South  Carolina  pa- 
pers. There  are  in  one  of  them  some  interesting 
views  of  the  doctrine  of  secession  —  one  that  had 
occurred  to  me,  and  which  for  the  first  time  I  have 
seen  in  print,  namely,  that  if  one  state  can,  at  will, 
withdraw  from  the  others,  the  others  can,  at  will, 
withdraw  from  her,  and  turn  her,  nolentem  volen- 
tem,  out  of  the  Union.  ...  It  is  high  time  that 
the  claim  to  secede  at  will  should  be  put  down  by 
the  public  opinion. 

[To  Edward  Coles,  1834.] 

You  call  my  attention,  with  much  emphasis,  to 
the  principle  that  offices  and  emoluments  were  the 
spoils  of  victory,  the  personal  property  of  the 
successful  candidate  for  the  presidency,  to  be  given 
as  rewards  for  electioneering  services,  and  in  gen- 
eral to  be  used  as  the  means  of  rewarding  those 
who  support,  and  of  punishing  those  who  do  not 
support,  the  dispenser  of  the  fund.  I  fully  agree 
in  all  the  odium  you  attach  to  such  a  rule  of 
action. 

[To  Edward  Coles,  1834.] 

Nullification   has   the  effect  of  putting 

powder  under  the  Constitution  and  Union,  and  a 
match  in  the  hand  of  every  party  to  blow  them  up 
at  pleasure. 


126  CHIPS    FROM   THE   WHITE   HOUSE. 


[Abolition  of  the  Slave-trade.] 

The  dictates  of  humanity,  the  principles  of  the 
people,  the  national  safety  and  happiness,  and 
prudent  policy,  require  it  of  us.  It  is  to  be  hoped 
that  by  expressing  a  national  disapprobation  of  the 
trade,  we  may  destroy  it,  and  save  our  country 
from  reproaches,  and  our  posterity  from  the  im- 
becility ever  attendant  on  a  country  filled  with 
slaves. 

It  is  wrong  to  admit  into  the  Constitution  the 
idea  that  there  can  be  property  in  man. 

We  have  seen  the  mere  distinction  of  color 
made,  in  the  most  enlightened  period  of  time,  a 
ground  of  the  most  oppressive  dominion  ever  ex- 
ercised by  man  over  man. 


JAMES   MONROE.  127 


JAMES    MONROE. 

BORN,  1758  ;  DIED,  1831,  AGED  73.  — EDUCATED  AT  WILLIAM  AND 
MARY  COLLEGE.  — LIEUTENANT  IN  THE  ARMY,  1776.— MA- 
JOR, 1777.  —  MEMBER  OF  ASSEMBLY  OF  VIRGINIA,  1782.  —  OF 
THE  EXECUTIVE  COUNCIL  OF  VIRGINIA,  1782.  — OF  CON- 
GRESS, 1783.— RE-ELECTED  TO  THE  GENERAL  ASSEMBLY, 
1787.  — DELEGATE  TO  THE  VIRGINIA  CONVENTION  FOR  DE- 
CIDING UPON  THE  ADOPTION  OF  THE  FEDERAL  CONSTI- 
TUTION, 1788.  — UNITED  STATES  SENATOR,  1790.  —  MINISTER 
TO  FRANCE,  1794.  —  GOVERNOR  OF  VIRGINIA,  1799.  —  ENVOY 
EXTRAORDINARY  TO  FRANCE,  1802.  —  MINISTER  PLENIPO- 
TENTIARY TO  ENGLAND,  1802. —  MEMBER  OF  VIRGINIA 
GENERAL  ASSEMBLY,  1810.  — GOVERNOR  OF  VIRGIOTA,  1811. 
—  SECRETARY  OF  STATE,  1811.  —  SECRETARY  OF  WAR,  1814.— 
PRESIDENT,  1817-1825. 

[From  a  Message,  November  17,  1818.] 

I  communicate  with  great  satisfaction 

the  accession  of  another  State,  Illinois,  to  our 
Union ;  because  I  perceive  from  the  proof  afforded 
by  the  additions  already  made,  the  regular  progress 
and  sure  consummation  of  a  policy,  of  which  his- 
tory affords  no  example,  and  of  which  the  good 
effect  cannot  be  too  highly  estimated.  By  ex- 
tending our  government  on  the  principles  of  our 
constitution,  over  the  vast  territories  within  our 
limits,  on  the  Lakes  and  the  Mississippi  and  its 
numerous  streams,  new  life  and  vigor  are  infused 


128  CHIPS   FROM   THE    WHITE    HOUSE. 

into  every  part  of  our  system.  By  increasing  the 
number  of  the  States,  the  confidence  of  the  State 
governments  in  their  own  security  is  increased,  and 
the  jealousy  of  the  national  government  propor- 
tionally diminished.  The  impracticability  of  one 
consolidated  government  for  this  great  and  grow- 
ing nation  will  be  more  apparent,  and  will  be  uni- 
versally admitted.  Incapable  of  exercising  local 
authority,  except  for  general  purposes,  the  general 
government  will  be  no  longer  dreaded.  In  those 
cases  of  a  local  nature,  and  for  all  the  great  pur- 
poses for  which  it  was  instituted,  its  authority  will 
be  cherished.  Each  government  will  acquire  a 
new  force  and  a  greater  freedom  of  action,  within 
its  proper  sphere. 


[From  a  Message,  1819.] 

Due  attention  has  been  paid  to  the  sup- 
pression of  the  slave  trade,  in  compliance  with  the 
law  of  the  last  session.  Orders  have  been  given 
to  the  commanders  of  all  our  public  ships  to  seize 
all  vessels  navigated  under  our  flag  engaged  in  the 
traffic,  and  to  bring  them  in,  to  be  proceeded 
against  in  the  manner  prescribed  by  the  law.  It 
is  hoped  that  these  vigorous  measures,  supported 
by  the  acts  of  other  nations,  will  soon  terminate  a 
commerce  so  disgraceful  to  the  civilized  world. 


JAMES  MONKOE.  129 

[From  a  Message,  1822.] 

The  military  academy  forms  the  basis, 

in  regard  to  science,  on  -which  the  military  estab- 
lishment rests.  It  furnishes  annually,  after  due 
examination,  many  well-informed  youths  to  fill  the 
vacancies  which  occur  in  the  several  corps  of  the 
army,  while  others,  who,  retired  to  private  life, 
carry  with  them  such  attainments  as,  under  the 
right  reserved  to  the  several  states  to  appoint  the 
officers  and  train  the  militia,  will  enable  them,  by 
aifording  a  wider  field  for  selection,  to  promote  the 
great  object  of  the  power  vested  in  Congress,  of 
providing  for  the  organizing,  arming,  and  disci- 
plining the  militia.  Thus,  by  the  mutual  and  har- 
monious co-operation  of  the  two  governments,  in 
the  exercise  of  a  power  divided  between  them,  an 
object  always  to  be  cherished,  the  attainment  of  a 
great  result,  on  which  our  liberties  may  depend, 
cannot  fail  to  be  secured.  I  have  to  add,  that  in 
proportion  as  our  regular  force  is  small  should  the 
instruction  and  discipline  of  the  militia,  the  great 
resource  on  which  we  rely,  be  pushed  to  the  ut- 
most extent  that  circumstances  will  admit . 

[From  a  Message,  1824.] 

Experience  has  already  shown  that  the 

difference  of  climate  and  of  industry  proceeding 
from  the  cause  inseparable  from  such  vast  domains, 


130  CHIPS  FEOM  THE   WHITE  HOUSE. 

and  which,  under  our  system,  might  have  a  repul- 
sive tendency,  cannot  fail  to  produce,  with  us, 
under  wise  regulations,  the  opposite  effect.  What 
one  part  wants  the  other  may  supply,  and  this  will 
be  most  sensibly  felt  by  the  parts  most  distant 
from  each  other,  forming,  thereby,  a  domestic  mar- 
ket and  an  active  intercourse  between  the  extremes, 
and  throughout  every  part  of  our  Union.  Thus, 
by  a  happy  distribution  of  power  between  the 
National  and  State  governments,  governments 
wThich  rest  exclusively  on  the  sovereignty  of  the 
people,  and  are  fully  adequate  to  the  great  pur- 
poses for  which  they  were  respectively  instituted, 
causes  which  might  otherwise  lead  to  dismember- 
ment, operate  powerfully  to  draw  us  closer  to- 
gether. 

[Message,  December,  1823.] 

The  political  system  of  the  allied  powers* 

is  essentially  different  from  that  of  America.  This 
difference  proceeds  from  that  which  exists  in  their 
respective  governments.  As  to  the  defence  of  our 
own,  which  has  been  achieved  by  the  loss  of  so 
much  blood  and  treasure,  and  matured  by  the  wis- 
dom of  their  most  enlightened  citizens,  and  under 

*  From  1815  to  1853  the  world  was  substantially  pre- 
served from  any  war  of  importance  by  the  live  great  powers 
who  preside  over  the  destinies  of  Europe,  namely,  France, 
Great  Britain,  Russia,  Austria,  and  Prussia.  —  Appletorfs 
Cyclop. 


JAMES   MONROE.  131 

which  we  have  enjoyed  unexampled  felicity,  this 
whole  nation  is  devoted.  AVe  owe  it  therefore  to 
candor,  and  to  the  amicable  relations  existing  be- 
tween the  United  States  and  those  powers  to 
declare,  that  we  should  consider  any  attempt  on 
their  part  to  extend  their  system  to  any  portion  of 
this  hemisphere  as  dangerous  to  our  peace  and 

safety 

Our  policy  with  regard  to  Europe,  which  we 
adopted  at  an  early  stage  of  the  wars  which  have 
so  long  agitated  that  quarter  of  the  globe,  never- 
theless remains  the  same,  which  is,  not  to  inter- 
fere in  the  internal  concerns  of  any  of  its  pow- 
ers ;  to  consider  the  government  de  facto  as  the 
legitimate  government  for  us  ;  to  cultivate  friendly 
relations  with  it,  and  to  preserve  those  relations 
by  a  frank,  firm,  and  manly  policy ;  meeting  in  all 
cases  the  just  claims  of  every  power ;  submitting 
to  injuries  from  none.  But  in  regard  to  those  con- 
tinents [North  and  South  America] ,  circumstances 
are  eminently  and  conspicuously  different.  It  is 
impossible  that  any  allied  powers  should  extend 
their  political  system  to  any  portion  of  either  con- 
tinent without  endangering  our  peace  and  happi- 
ness ;  nor  can  any  one  believe  that  our  Southern 
brethren,  if  left  to  themselves,  would  adopt  it  of 
their  own  accord.  It  is  equally  impossible,  there- 
fore, that  we  should  behold  such  interposition,  in 
any  form,  with  indifference.  If  we  look  to  the 


132  CHIPS   FEOM   THE   WHITE   HOUSE. 

comparative  strength  and  resources  of  Spain  and 
those  new  governments,  and  their  distance  from 
each  other,  it  must  be  obvious  that  she  can  never 
subdue  them.  It  is  still  the  true  policy  of  the 
United  States  to  leave  the  parties  to  themselves, 
in  the  hope  that  other  powers  will  pursue  the  same 
course. 

[From  a  speech  in  the  Virginia  Convention.] 

We  have  found  that  this  evil  (slavery)  has 
preyed  upon  the  very  vitals  of  the  Union,  and  has 
been  prejudicial  to  all  the  States  in  which  it  has 
existed. 


JOHN   QUIXCT  ADAMS.  133 


JOHN    QUINCY   ADAMS. 

BORN,  17(57  ;  DIED,  1848,  AGED,  81.  —  AT  THE  UNIVERSITY  OP 
LEYDEN,  1780.  —  PRIVATE  SECRETARY  TO  FRANCIS  DANA, 
MINISTER  TO  RUSSIA,  1782.  —  ENTERED  HARVARD  COLLEGE 
IN  ADVANCE,  1786.  —  BEGAN  PRACTICE  OF  LAW,  1791.  — MIN- 
ISTER TO  THE  HAGUE,  1794.  —  MINISTER  TO  BERLIN,  1797.— 
MEMBER  OF  MASSACHUSETTS  SENATE,  1802. —  OF  THE 
UNITED  STATES  SENATE,  1803.  —  PROFESSOR  OF  RHETORIC 
AND  BELLES  LETTRES  IN  HARVARD  COLLEGE,  1806.  — MIN- 
ISTER TO  RUSSIA,  1809.  —RESIDENT  MINISTER  IN  ENGLAND, 
1815.  —  SECRETARY  OF  STATE,  1817.  —  PRESIDENT,  1825-1829.— 
REPRESENTATIVE  TO  CONGRESS,  1831. 

[From  an  Oration  delivered  at  Plymouth,  1802.] 

THIS  theory  [a  community  of  good]  results,  it 
must  l?e  acknowledged,  from  principles  of  reason- 
ing most  flattering  to  the  human  character.  If  in- 
dustry, frugality,  and  disinterested  integrity  were 
alike  the  virtues  of  all,  there  would,  apparently, 
be  more  of  the  social  spirit  in  making  all  property 
a  common  stock,  and  giving  to  each  individual  a 
proportional  title  to  the  wealth  of  the  whole.  Such 
is  the  basis  upon  which  Plato  forbids  in  his  re- 
public the  division  of  property.  Such  is  the  sys- 
tem upon  which  Rousseau  pronounces  the  first  man 
who  enclosed  a  field  with  a  fence,  and  said,  This 
is  mine,  a  traitor  to  the  human  species.  A  wiser 


134  CHIPS   FROM  THE   WHITE   HOUSE. 

and  more  useful  philosophy,  however,  directs  us 
to  consider  man  according  to  the  nature  in  which 
he  was  formed,  —  subject  to  infirmities  which  no 
wisdom  can  remedy ;  to  weaknesses  which  no  in- 
stitution can  strengthen ;  to  vices  which  no  legis- 
lation can  correct.  Hence  it  becomes  obvious  that 
separate  property  is  the  natural  and  indisputable 
right  of  separate  exertion  —  that  community  of 
goods  without  community  of  toil  is  oppressive  and 
unjust ;  that  it  counteracts  the  laws  of  nature, 
which  prescribe  that  he  only  who  sows  the  seed 
shall  reap  the  harvest ;  that  it  discourages  all 
energy  by  destroying  its  rewards  ;  and  makes  the 
most  virtuous  and  active  members  of  society  the 
slaves  and  drudges  of  the  worst. 

Rhetoric- alone  can  never  constitute  an  orator. 
No  human  art  can  be  acquired  by  the  mere  knowl- 
edge of  the  principles  upon  which  it  is  founded. 
But  the  artist  who  understands  the  principles  will 
exercise  his  art  in  the  highest  perfection. 

The  profoundcst  study  of  the  writers  upon  archi- 
tecture, the  most  laborious  contemplation  of  its 
magnificent  monuments,  will  never  make  a  mason. 
But  the  mason  thoroughly  acquainted  with  the 
writers,  and  familiar  with  the  construction  of  those 
monuments,  will  surely  be  an  abler  artist  than  the 
mere  mechanic,  ignorant  of  the  mysteries  of  his 
trade,  and  even  of  the  names  of  his  tools.  — Lec- 
tures on  Rhetoric  and  Oratory,  Lect,  n. 


JOHN  QUINCY  ADAMS.          135 

The  art  of  speaking  must  be  most  eagerly  sought 
where  it  is  found  to  be  most  useful.  It  must  be 
most  useful  where  it  is  capable  of  producing  the 
greatest  effects,  and  that  can  be  in  no  other  state 
of  things  than  where  the  power  of  persuasion 
operates  upon  the  will,  and  prompts  the  actions 
of  other  men.  The  only  birthplace  of  eloquence, 
therefore,  must  be  a  free  state.  Under  arbitrary 
governments,  where  the  lot  is  cast  upon  one  man 
to  command,  and  upon  all  the  rest  to  obey ;  where 
the  despot,  like  the  Roman  centurion,  has  only  to 
say  to  one  man,  Go,  and  he  goeth,  and  to  another, 
Come,  and  he  cometh,  persuasion  is  of  no  avail. 
Between  authority  and  obedience  there  can  be  no 
deliberation ;  and  wheresoever  submission  is  the 
principle  of  government  in  a  nation,  eloquence  can 
never  arise.  Eloquence  is  the  child  of  liberty,  and 
can  descend  from  no  other  stock.  .  .  .  Our  institu- 
tions, from  the  smallest  municipal  associations,  to 
the  great  national  bond,  which  links  this  continent 
in  union,  are  republican.  Their  vital  principle  is 
liberty.  Persuasion,  or  the  influence  of  reason 
and  of  feeling,  is  the  great  if  not  the  only  instru- 
ment whose  operation  can  effect  the  acts  of  all  our 
corporate  bodies  :  of  towns,  cities,  counties,  states, 
and  of  the  whole  confederated  empire.  Here,  then, 
eloquence  is  recommended  by  the  most  elevated 
usefulness,  and  encouraged  by  the  promise  of  the_ 
most  preci,ous  rewards.  — Lect.  n. 


136  CHIPS  FROM   TIIE   WHITE   HOUSE. 

When  the  cause  of  ages  and  the  fate  of  nations 
hang  upon  the  thread  of  a  debate,  the  orator  may 
fairly  consider  himself  as  addressing  not  only  his 
immediate  hearers,  but  the  world  at  large,  and  all 
future  times.  Then  it  is,  that,  looking  beyond  the 
moment  in  which  he  speaks,  and  the  immediate 
issue  of  the  deliberation,  he  makes  the  question  of 
an  hour  a  question  for  every  age  and  every  region  ; 
takes  the  vote  of  unborn  millions  upon  the  debate 
of  a  little  senate  ;  and  incorporates  himself  and  his 
discourse  with  the  general  history  of  mankind. 
On  such  occasions  and  at  such  times,  the  oration 
naturally  and  properly  assumes  a  solemnity  of 
manner  and  a  dignity  of  language  commensurate 
with  the  grandeur  of  the  cause.  Then  it  is  that 
deliberative  eloquence  lays  aside  the  plain  attire 
of  her  daily  occupation,  and  assumes  the  port  and 
purple  of  the  queen  of  the  world.  Yet  even  then 
she  remembers  that  majestic  grandeur  best  com- 
ports with  simplicity.  Her  crown  and  sceptre  may 
blaze  with  the  brightness  of  the  diamond,  but  she 
must  not,  like  the  kings  of  the  gorgeous  east,  be 
buried  under  a  shower  of  barbaric  pearls  and  gold. 
—  Lect.  xi. 

[From  his  Diary,  August  19, 1822,  when  Secretary  of  State.] 

Answered  General  Dearborn's  letter,  and  re- 
ceived one  from  my  wife,  chiefly  upon  an  attack 
against  me  in  one  of  the  Philadelphia  newspapers 


JOHN  QUINCY  ADAMS.          13? 

on  account  of  the  negligence  of  my  dress.  It 
says  that  I  wear  neither  waistcoat  nor  cravat,  and 
sometimes  go  to  church  barefoot.  My  wife  is 
much  concerned  at  this,  and  several  of  my  friends 
at  Philadelphia  have  spoken  to  her  of  it  as  a  seri- 
ous affair.  In  the  Washington  City  Gazette,  some 
person  unknown  to  me  has  taken  the  cudgels  in 
my  behalf,  and  answered  the  accusation  gravely  as 
if  the  charge  were  true.  It  is  true  only  as  re- 
regards  the  cravat,  instead  of  which,  in  the  extrem- 
ity of  the  summer  heat,  I  wear  round  my  neck  a 
black  silk  ribbon.  But  even  in  the  falsehood  of 
this  charge  what  I  may  profitably  remember  is  the 
perpetual  and  malignant  watchfulness  with  which 
I  am  observed  in  my  open  day  and  my  secret 
night,  with  the  deliberate  purpose  of  exposing  me 
to  public  obloquy  or  public  ridicule.  There  is 
nothing  so  deep  and  nothing  so  shallow  which  po- 
litical enmity  will  not  turn  to  account.  Let  it  be 
a  warning  to  me  to  take  heed  to  my  ways. 

[From  his  Diary,  October  13,  1822.] 

This  ode  [Pope's  "  Dying  Christian  to  his  Soul "] 
is  exquisitely  beautiful,  though  most  singularly 
compounded  of  five  half-ludicrous  Latin  lines,  said 
to  have  been  spoken  by  the  emperor  Hadrian  at 
the  article  of  death,  of  Sappho's  fiery  lyric  ode ; 
and  of  that  triumphant  and  transporting  apos- 
trophe of  St.  Paul,  in  the  fifty-fifth  verse  of  this 


138  CHIPS   FROM   THE   WHITE   HOUSE. 

fifteenth  chapter  of  Corinthians  :  "  O  death,  where 
is  thy  sting?  O  grave,  where  is  thy  victory?" 
From  these  materials,  upon  a  suggestion  and  at 
the  request  of  Steele,  Pope  wrote  this  truly  se- 
raphic song,  to  be  set  to  music.  In  comparing  it 
with  the  lines  of  Hadrian,  I  see  the  effect  of  the 
Christian  doctrines  upon  the  idea  of  death.  Pope 
contends  that  there  is  nothing  trifling,  or  even  gay, 
in  the  lines  of  Hadrian ;  but  his  imagination  leads 
his  judgment  astray.  The  heathen  philosophers 
taught  that  death  was  to  be  met  with  indifference, 
and  Hadrian  attempted  to  carry  this  doctrine  into 
practice  by  joking  at  his  own  death,  while  in  its 
agonies.  Yet  the  thought  of  what  was  to  become 
of  his  soul  was  grave  and  serious,  and  his  idea  of 
its  future  state  was  that  of  darkness  and  gloom. 
The  character  of  his  lines,  therefore,  is  a  singular 
mixture  of  levity  and  sadness,  the  spirit  of  which 
appears  to  me  to  be  lost  in  Pope's  translation  of 
them,  given  in  a  letter  to  Steele.  I  set  down  the 
lines  here,  with  a  translation  of  them  as  literal  and 
as  much  in  their  spirit  as  I  can  make  them. 

Animula,  vagula,  blandula, 
Hospcs  comesque  corporis, 
Qnrc  nunc  abibis  in  loca? 
Pallidula,  rigida,  nudula, 
Nee  (ut  soles)  dabis  joca! 

Dear,  fluttering,  flattering  little  soul, 
Partner  and  inmate  of  this  clay, 


JOHN   QTJINCY   ADAMS.  139 

Oh,  whither  art  thou  now  to  stroll? 
Pale,  shivering,  naked,  little  droll, 
No  more  thy  wonted  jokes  to  play! 

Pope  insists  that  the  diminutives  are  epithets, 
not  of  levity,  but  of  endearment.  They  are  sig- 
nificant of  both,  and  the  repetition  of  them,  with 
the  rhyme  of  "loca"  and  "/oca,"  in  Latin  verses 
of  that  age,  decisively  marks  the  merriment  of 
affected  indifference.  In  the  process  of  the  cor- 
respondence, Steele  desired  Pope  to  make  an  ode 
as  of  a  cheerful,  dying  spirit ;  that  is  to  say,  the 
emperor  Hadrian's  "Aniinula,  vagula,"  put  into 
two  or  three  stanzas  for  music.  This  hint  was 
Pope's  inspiration.  He  made  the  cheerful,  dying 
spirit  a  Christian,  and  cheerful  death  then  became 
the  moment  of  triumphant  exultation,  and  the  song 
is,  as  it  were,  the  song  of  an  angel. 

To  A  BEREAVED  MOTHER. 

Sure  to  the  mansions  of  the  blest, 

When  infant  innocence  ascends, 
Some  angel,  brighter  than  the  rest, 

The  spotless  spirit's  flight  attends. 
On  wings  of  ecstasy  they  rise, 

Beyond  where  worlds  material  roll, 
Till  some  fair  sister  of  the  skies 

Receives  the  unpolluted  soul. 
That  inextinguishable  beam, 

With  dust  united  at  our  birth, 
Sheds  a  more  dim,  discolored  gleam, 

The  more  it  lingers  upon  earth. 


140  CHIPS   FROM   THE   WHITE   HOUSE. 

But  when  the  Lord  of  mortal  breath 

Decrees  his  bounty  to  resume, 
And  points  the  silent  shaft  oMeath 

Which  speeds  an  infant  to  the  tomb, 
No  passion  fierce,  nor  low  desire, 

Has  quenched  the  radiance  of  the  flame; 
Back  to  its  God  the  living  fire 

Reverts,  unclouded  as  it  came. 
Fond  mourner  be  that  solace  thine! 

Let  Hope  her  healing  charm  impart, 
And  soothe,  with  melodies  divine, 

The  anguish  of  a  mother's  heart. 

Oh,  think!  the  darlings  of  thy  love, 

Divested  of  this  earthly  clod, 
Amid  unnumbered  saints,  above, 

Bask  in  the  bosom  of  their  God. 
O'er  thee,  with  looks  of  love  they  bend ; 

For  thee  the  Lord  of  life  implore; 
And  oft  from  sainted  bliss  descend, 

Thy  wounded  quiet  to  restore, 
Then  dry,  henceforth,  the  bitter  tear; 

Their  part  and  thine  inverted  see. 
Thou  wert  their  guardian  angel  here,. 

They  guardian  angels  now  to  thee. 

Beading  further  in  Walpole's  Memoirs,  or  Se- 
cret History  of  the  British  Administrations  from 
1750  to  17 GO,  I  find  in  them  many  things  that  re- 
mind me  of  the  present  state  of  things  here.  The 
public  history  of  all  countries  and  all  ages  is  but 
a  sort  of  mask  richly  colored.  The  interior  work- 
ing of  the  machinery  must  be  foul.  There  is  as 
much  mining  and  countermining  for  power,  as 


JOHN  QUINCY  ADAMS.  141 

many  fluctuations  of  friendship  and  enmity,  as 
many  attractions  and  repulsions,  bargains,  and 
oppositions,  narrated  in  these  Memoirs  as  might 
be  told  of  our  own  times.  Walpole  witnessed  it 
all  as  a  sharer  in  the  sport,  and  now  tells  it  to  the 
world  as  a  satirist.  And  shall  not  I,  too,  have  a 
tale  to  tell?  —  Diary,  Nov.  9,  1822. 

[From  his  Inaugural  Address,  1825.] 

Ten  years  of  peace  at  home  and  abroad 

have  assuaged  the  animosities  of  political  conten- 
tion, and  blended  into  harmony  the  most  discord- 
ant elements  of  public  opinion.  There  still  re- 
mains one  effort  of  magnanimity,  one  sacrifice  of 
prejudice  and  passion,  to  be  made  by  the  individ- 
uals throughout  the  nation  who  have  heretofore 
followed  the  standards  of  political  party.  It  is 
that  of  discarding  every  remnant  of  rancor  against 
each  other,  of  embracing  as  countrymen  and 
friends,  and  of  yielding  to  talents  and  virtue  alone 
that  confidence  which  in  times  of  contention  for 
principle  was  bestowed  only  upon  those  who  bore 
the  badge  of  party  communion. 

[From  an  Address  at  a  public  dinner  in  Faneuil  Hall  in  con- 
nection with  the  annual  examination  of  the  public  schools.] 

It  was  from  schools  of  public  instruction  insti- 
tuted by  our  forefathers  that  the  light  burst  forth. 


142  CHIPS   FROM   THE   WHITE   HOUSE. 

It  was  in  the  primary  schools,  it  was  by  the  mid- 
nights lamps  of  Harvard  Hall,  that  were  conceived 
and  matured,  as  it  was  within  these  hallowed 
walls  that  were  first  resounded,  the  accents  of  that 
independence  which  is  now  canonized  in  the 
memory  of  those  by  whom  it  was  proclaimed. 

[A  representation  having  been  made  to  President  Adanis, 
that  a  certain  functionary  of  the  general  government  was 
using  his  influence  against  his  re-election,  and  therefore 
ought  to  be  removed,  he  replied]  : 

That  gentleman  is  one  of  the  best  officers  in  the 
public  service.  I  have  had  occasion  to  know  his 
diligence,  exactness,  and  punctuality.  On  public 
grounds,  therefore,  there  is  no  cause  of  complaint 
against  him,  and  upon  no  other  will  I  remove  him. 
If  I  cannot  administer  the  government  on  these 
principles,  I  am  content  to  go  back  to  Quincy. 

—  */*  '>«'A<  •"»«••• '"'  ''"••  "•  ^  ^•"•k^-u 

/'  SUNDAY,  November  5,  1826. 

Heard  Mr.  Little  from  Psalms,  cxix.  133. 
.  .  .  Among  his  quotations  from  Scripture  was 
that  of  the  first  seven  verses  of  the  fifth  chapter 
of  Isaiah.  —  the  song  of  the  vineyard  that  brought 
forth  wild  grapes.  In  this  instance,  as  in  number- 
less others,  I  was  struck  with  the  careless  inatten- 
tion of  my  own  mind  when  reading  the  Bible.  I 
had  read  the  chapter  of  Isaiah  containing  this  para- 
ble, I  dare  say,  fifty  times,  and  it  was  altogether 
familiar  to  my  memory ;  but  I  had  never  perceived 


JOIIN  QUINCY  ADAMS.  143 

a  fiftieth  part  of  its  beauty  and  sublimity.  The 
closing  verse  of  the  parable,  especially,  •which 
points  the  moral  of  the  allegory,  speaks  with  irre- 
sistible energy  :  "  For  the  vineyard  of  the  Lord  of 
hosts  is  the  house  of  Israel,  and  the  men  of  Judah 
his  pleasant  plant :  and  he  looked  for  judgment, 
but  behold  oppression ;  for  righteousness,  but  be- 
hold a  cry."  The  parallel  is  pursued  no  further. 
He  had  said  in  the  parable  how  the  vineyard 
would  be  destroyed,  and  here,  after  declaring 
what, the  vineyard  was,  and  what  its  fruits  had 
been,  he  leaves  the  conclusion  of  ruin  and  destruc- 
tion to  the  imagination  of  the  reader.  This  art  of 
selecting  ideas  to  be  presented,  and  of  leading  the 
mind  to  that  which  is  not  expressed,  is  among  the 
greatest  secrets  of  composition — to  make  the  sup- 
pressed thoughts,  like  the  statues  of  Brutus  and 
Cassius  at  the  funeral  of  Junia,  most  resplendent 
because  they  are  not  exhibited  in  the  highest  effort 
of  skill.—  Diary.  Nov.  5,  1826. 

May  6. 

I  heard  Mr.  Campbell.  .  .  .     His  text 

was  from  Eev.  ii.  16:  "Eepent,  or  else  I  will 
come  unto  thee  quickly."  Mr.  C.  dwelt  largely 
and  earnestly  upon  the  universal  depravity  of 
mankind.  It  is  a  matter  of  curious  speculation  to 
me  how  men  of  good  understanding  and  reasoning 
faculties  can  be  drilled  into  the  sincere  belief  of 


144  CHIPS   FROM   THE   WHITE   HOUSE. 

these  absurdities.  The  Scripture  says  that  the 
heart  is  deceitful  and  desperately  wicked.  This  is 
certainly  true,  and  is  a  profound  observation  upon 
the  human  character.  But  the  language  is  figura- 
tive. By  the  heart  is  meant,  in  this  passage,  the 
selfish  passions  of  man.  But  there  is  also  in  man 
a  spirit,  and  the  inspiration  of  the  Almighty  giveth 
him  understanding.  It  is  the  duty  of  man  to  dis- 
cover the  vicious  propensities  and  deceits  of  his 
heart,  to  control  them.  This,  with  the  grace  of 
God,  a  large  portion  of  the  human  race  in 
Christian  lands  do  accomplish.  It  seems,  there- 
fore, to  be  worse  than  useless  for  preachers  to  de- 
clare that  mankind  are  universally  depraved.  It 
takes  from  honest  integrity  all  its  honors ;  it  de- 
grades men  in  their  own  estimation. 

Mr.  Campbell  read  a  hymn,  which  declared  that 
we  were  more  base  and  brutish  than  the  beasts, — 
a  spiritual  song  of  Isaac  Watts.  What  .is  the 
meaning  of  this?  If  Watts  had  said  this  on  a 
week-day  to  any  one  of  his  parishioners,  would  he 
not  have  knocked  him  down  ?  And  how  can  that 
be  taught  as  a  solemn  truth  of  religion,  applicable 
to  all  mankind,  which,  if  said  at  any  other  time 
to  any  one  individual,  would  be  punishable  as  slan- 
der?— Diary,  1827. 

I  read  also  the  speech  of  John  Randolph,  on  re- 
trenchment and  reform,  published  by  himself  in  a 


JOHN   QUINCY   ADAMS.  145 

pamphlet,  with  notes.  It  is,  like  all  his  speeches,  a 
farrago  of  commonplace  political  declamation,  min- 
gled up  with  a  jumble  of  historical  allusions,  scraps 
of  Latin  from  the  Dictionary  of  Quotations,  and  a 
continual  stream  of  malignity  to  others,  and  of  in- 
flated egotism,  mixed  in  proportions  like  those  of 
the  liquor  which  he  now  tipples  as  he  speaks  in  the 
House,  and  which  he  calls  toast-water,  —  about 
one-third  brandy  and  two-thirds  water.  This  is  the 
speech  in  which  he  charges  Clay  with  having  conde- 
scended to  electioneer  with  him ;  asserts  there  was  a 
combination  of  Webster  and  Clay  against  me,  which, 
in  a  note,  he  says  I  defeated  by  causing  the  votes 
which  Mr.  Crawford  got  in  the  New  York  Legis- 
lature to  be  given  to  him,  and  thereby  securing 
his  return  to  the  House,  and  excluding  thereby 
Mr.  Clay.  This  idea  of  my  causing  votes  of  the 
New  York  Legislature,  which  I  could  not  obtain 
for  myself,  to  be  given  to  Mr.  Crawford,  is  one  of 
the  most  ingenious  in  the  whole  pamphlet,  and  is 
a  sample  of  the  materials  of  which  his  accusations 
are  composed.  The  rancor  of  this  man's  soul 
against  me  is  that  which  sustains  his  life,  and  so  it 
is  of  W.  B.  Giles,  now  governor  of  Virginia. 
The  agony  of  their  envy  and  hatred  of  me,  and 
the  hope  of  effecting  my  downfall,  are  their  chief 
remaining  sources  of  vitality.  The  issue  of  the 
presidential  election  will  kill  them  by  the  gratifica- 
tion of  their  revenge.  — Diary,  March  11,  1828. 


10 


146  CHIPS   FROM   THE   WHITE   HOUSE. 

[Rev.]  Mr.  Baker  made  also  some  inquiries  con- 
cerning my  religious  opinions,  and  particularly  con- 
cerning my  ideas  of  the  trinity.  I  spoke  to  him  as 
freely  as  I  did  with  the  general  of  the  Jesuits  at  St. 
Petersburg.  I  told  him,  in  substance,  .  .  .  that 
I  was  not  either  a  Trinitarian  or  a  Unitarian ;  that 
I  believed  the  nature  of  Jesus  Christ  was  super- 
human; but  whether  he  was  God,  or  only  tho 
first  of  created  beings,  was  not  clearly  revealed  to 
me  in  the  Scriptures.  —  Diary  >  March  17,  1828. 

I  went  to  the  Presbyterian  church  to  hear  Mr. 
Smith,  but  his  place  was  supplied  [by  another]. 
His  text  was  from  Luke  xv.  17  :  "And  when  ho 
came  to  himself  he  said,  How  many  hired  servants 
of  my  father's  have  bread  enough  and  to  spare, 
and  I  perish  with  hunger  !  "  A  commonplace  of 
Calvinism.  The  argument  was  that  all  unregen- 
erate  sinners  were  insane,  or  beside  themselves, 
and  that  conversion  was  nothing  more  than  ;v 
return  to  reason,  or  coming  to  themselves.  In 
the  common  aifairs  of  the  world,  an  eloquent  ex- 
hortation to  the  insane  to  come  to  himself  would 
sooner  send  the  preacher  to  Bedlam  than  release 
his  hearer  from  it ;  but  this  is  orthodox  Calvin- 
ism, and  our  pulpit  orator  urged  us  all,  with 
great  and  anxious  earnestness,  to  come  to  our- 
selves.—  Diary,  March  20,  1831. 


JOHN   QUrSTCY   ADAMS.  147 

Mr.  Munroe  is  a  very  remarkable  instance  of  a 
man  whose  life  has  been  a  continued  series  of  the 
most  extraordinary  good  fortune,  who  has  never 
met  with  any  known  disaster,  has  gone  through  a 
splendid  career  of  public  service,  has  received 
more  pecuniary  reward  from  the  public  than  any 
other  man  since  the  existence  of  the  nation,  and  is 
now  dying,  at  the  age  of  seventy-two,  in  wretch- 
edness and  beggary.  I  sat  with  him  perhaps  half 
an  hour.  He  spoke  of  the  commotions  now  dis- 
turbing Europe,  and  of  the  recent  quasi  revolution 
at  Washington ;  but  his  voice  was  so  feeble  that 
he  seemed  exhausted  by  the  exertion  of  speaking. 
I  did  not  protract  my  visit,  and  took  leave  of  him, 
in  all  probability,  for  the  last  time. — Diary,  New 
York,  April  27,  1831. 

His  [President  Monroe's]  life  for  the  last  six  years 
has  been  one  of  abject  penury  and  distress,  and  they 
have  brought  him  to  a  premature  grave,  though  in 
the  seventy-third  year  of  his  age.  His  administra- 
tion, happening  precisely  at  the  moment  of  the 
breaking  up  of  old  party  divisions,  was  the  period 
of  the  greatest  tranquillity  which  has  ever  been  en- 
joyed by  this  country;  it  was  a  time  of  great 
prosperity,  and  his  personal  popularity  was  un- 
rivalled. Yet  no  one  regretted  the  termination  of 
his  administration ,  and  less  of  popular  veneration 
followed  him  into  retirement  than  had  accompanied 


148  CHIPS   FROM   THE   WHITE   HOUSE. 

all  his  predecessors.  His  last  days  have  been  much 
afflicted,  contrasting  deeply  with  the  triumphal  pro- 
cession which  he  made  through  the  Union  in  1817 
and  1819.  —  Diary,  Washington,  July  4,  1831. 

In  the  primitive  principles  of  the  parties,  the 
Federalists  were  disposed  to  consider  the  first 
principle  of  society  to  be  the  preservation  of 
order;  while  their  opponents  viewed  the  benefit 
above  all  others  in  the  enjoyment  of  liberty.  — 
Eulogy  of  President  Monroe,  August  25,  1831. 

[From  an  Oration  on  the  Life  and  Character  of  Lafayette, 
1834.] 

Let  us  observe  the  influence  of  political 

institutions  over  the  destinies  and  the  characters  of 
men.  George  the  Second  was  a  German  Prince  ; 
he  had  been  made  king  of  the  British  Islands  by 
the  accident  of  his  birth ;  that  is  to  say,  because 
his  great-grandmother  had  been  the  daughter  of 
James  the  First ;  that  great-grandmother  had  been 
married  to  the  king  of  Bohemia,  and  her  youngest 
daughter  had  been  married  to  the  Elector  of  Hanover. 
George  the  Second's  father  was  her  son,  and,  when 
James  the  Second  had  been  expelled  from  his  throne 
and  his  country  by  the  indignation  of  his  people, 
revolted  against  his  tyranny,  and  when  his  two 
daughters,  who  succeeded  him,  had  died  without 
issue,  George  the  First,  the  son  of  the  Electress  of 


JOHN   QUINCY    ADAMS.  149 

Hanover,  became  king  of  Great  Britain,  by  the 
settlement  of  an  act  of  Parliament,  blending  to- 
gether the  principle  of  hereditary  succession  with 
that  of  Reformed  Protestant  Christianity,  and  the 
rites  of  the  Church  of  England. 

The  throne  of  France  was  occupied  by  virtue  of 
the  same  principle  of  hereditary  succession,  differ- 
ently modified,  and  blended  with  the  Christianity 
of  the  Church  of  Rome.  From  this  line  of  suc- 
cession all  females  were  inflexibly  excluded. 
Louis  the  Fifteenth,  at  the  age  of  six  years,  had 
become  the  absolute  sovereign  of  France,  because 
he  was  the  great-grandson  of  his  immediate  pred- 
ecessor. He  was  of  the  third  generation  in  de- 
scent from  the  preceding  king,  and,  by  the  law 
of  primogeniture,  engrafted  upon  that  of  lineal  suc- 
cession, did,  by  the  death  of  his  ancestor,  forthwith 
succeed,  though  in  childhood,  to  an  absolute  throne, 
in  preference  to  numerous  descendants  from  that 
same  ancestor  then  in  the  full  vigor  of  manhood. 

The  first  reflection  that  must  occur  to  a  rational 
being,  in  contemplating  these  two  results  of  the 
principle  of  hereditary  succession,  is,  that  two 
persons  more  unfit  to  occupy  the  thrones  of  Brit- 
ain and  of  France,  at  the  time  of  their  respective 
accessions,  could  scarcely  have  been  found  upon 
the  face  of  the  globe.  George  the  Second,  a  for- 
eigner, the  son  and  grandson  of  foreigners,  born 
beyond  the  seas,  educated  in  uncongenial  manners, 


150  CHIPS   FROM   THE   WHITE   HOUSE. 

ignorant  of  the  Constitution,  of  the  laws,  even  of 
the  language  of  the  people  over  whom  he  was  to 
rule  ;  and  Louis  the  Fifteenth,  an  infant,  incapable 
of  discerning  his  right  hand  from  his  left.  Yet 
strange  as  it  may  sound  to  the  ear  of  unsophisti- 
cated reason,  the  British  nation  were  wedded  to 
the  belief  that  this  act  of  settlement,  fixing  their 
crown  upon  the  heads  of  this  succession  of  total 
strangers,  was  the  brightest  and  most  glorious 
exemplification  of  their  national  freedom  ;  and  not 
less  strange,  if  aught  in  the  imperfection  of 
human  reason  could  seem  strange,  was  that  deep 
conviction  of  the  French  people,  at  the  same 
period,  that  their  chief  glory  and  happiness  con- 
sisted in  the  vehemence  of  their  affection  for  their 
king,  because  he  was  descended  in  an  unbroken 
male  line  of  genealogy  from  Saint  Louis. 

Among  the  dark  spots  in  human  nature,  which 
in  the  course  of  my  life  I  have  observed,  the  de- 
vices of  rivals  to  ruin  me  have  been  sorry  pictures 
of  the  heart  of  man.  They  first  exhibited  them- 
selves at  college,  but  in  the  short  time  that  I  was 
there  their  operation  could  not  be  of  much  effect. 
But  from  the  day  that  I  quitted  the  walls  of  Harvard, 
II.  G.  Otis,  Theophilus  Parsons,  Timothy  Picker- 
ing, James  A.  Bayard,  Henry  Clay,  Jonathan 
Russell,  William  H.  Crawford,  John  C.  Calhoun, 
Andrew  Jackson,  Daniel  Webster,  and  John  Da- 


JOHN   QUINCY   ADAMS.  151 

vis,  W.  B.  Giles,  and  John  Randolph,  have  used 
up  their  faculties  in  base  and  dirty  tricks  to  thwart 
my  progress  in  life,  and  destroy  my  character. 
Others  have  acted  as  instruments  to  these,  and 
among  these  Russell  was  the  most  contemptible, 
because  he  was  the  mere  jackal  to  Clay.  He  is 
also  the  only  one  of  the  list  whom  I  have  signally 
punished.  To  almost  all  the  rest  I  have  returned 
good  for  evil.  I  have  never  wronged  any  one  of 
them,  and  have  even  neglected  too  much  my  self- 
defence  against  them.  —  Diary,  Washington,  Nov. 
23,  1835. 

There  was  in  the  National  Intelligencer ',  this 
morning,  an  advertisement  signed  James  H.  Birch, 
and  Edward  Dyer,  auctioneer,  headed  "  Sale  of 
Slaves,"  — a  sale  at  public  auction,  at  four  o'clock 
this  afternoon,  of  Dorcas  Allen  and  her  two  sur- 
viving children,  aged  about  seven  and  nine  years, 
(the  other  two  having  been  killed  by  said  Dorcas 
in  a  fit  of  insanity,  as  found  by  the  jury  who  lately 
acquitted  her).  The  advertisement  further  says 
that  the  said  slaves  were  purchased  by  Birch,  on 
the  22d  of  August  last,  of  Rezin  Orme,  warranted 
sound  in  body  and  in  mind ;  that  the  terms  of  sale 
will  be  cash,  as  said  slaves  will  be  sold  on  account 
of  said  Rezin  Orme,  who  refuses  to  retake  the 
same  and  repay  the  purchase  money,  and  who  is 
notified  to  attend  said  sale,  and,  if  he  thinks  proper, 


152  CHIPS   FROM   THE   WHITE   HOUSE. 

to  bid  for  them,  or  retake  them,  as  he  prefers,  upon 
refunding  the  money  paid  and  all  expenses  in- 
curred under  the  warranty  given  by  him. 

I  asked  Mr.  Frye  what  this  advertisement  meant. 
He  seemed  not  to  like  to  speak  of  it,  but  said  the 
woman  had  been  sold  with  her  children,  to  be  sent 
to  the  South  and  separated  from  her  husband  ;  that 
she  had  killed  two  of  her  children  by  cutting  their 
throats,  and  cut  her  own  to  kill  herself,  but  in  that 
had  failed  ;  that  she  had  been  tried  at  Alexandria  for 
the  murder  of  her  children,  and  acquitted  on  the 
ground  of  insanity,  and  that  this  sale  was  now  by 
the  purchaser  at  the  expense  of  the  seller,  upon 
the  warranty  that  she  was  sound  in  body  and  mind. 

I  called  at  the  oifce  of  the  National  Intelligencer 
and  saw  Mr.  Seaton ;  inquired  of  him  concerning 
the  advertisement.  .  .  .  He  answered  with  re- 
luctance, and  told  me  the  same  story  that  I  had 
heard  from  Mr.  Frye,  adding  that  there  was  some- 
thing very  bad  about  it,  but  without  telling  me 
what  it  was. 

It  is  a  case  of  conscience  with  me  whether  my 
duty  requires  or  forbids  me  to  pursue  the  inquiry 
in  this  case  —  to  ascertain  all  the  facts,  and  ex- 
pose them  in  all  their  turpitude  to  the  world.  The 
prohibition  of  the  internal  slave-trade  is  within  the 
constitutional  power  of  Congress,  and,  in  my 
opinion,  u  among  their  incumbent  duties.  I  have 
gone  as  far  upon  this  article,  the  abolition  of 


JOHN  QUINCY  ADAMS.  153 

slavery,  as  the  public  opinion  of  the  free  portion 
of  the  Union  will  bear,  and  so  far  that  scarcely  a 
slaveholcling  member  of  the  House  dares  to  vote 
with  me  upon  any  question.  I  have,  as  yet,  been 
throughly  sustained  in  my  own  State,  but  one  step 
further  and  I  hazard  my  own  standing  and  influ- 
ence there,  my  own  final  overthrow,  and  the  cause 
of  liberty  itself  for  indefinite  time,  certainly  for 
more  than  my  remnant  of  life.  Were  there  in  the 
House  one  member  capable  of  taking  the  lead  in 
this  cause  of  universal  emancipation,  which  is 
moving  onward  in  the  world  and  in  this  country,  I 
would  withdraw  from  the  contest,  which  will  rage 
with  increasing  fury  as  it  draws  to  its  crisis,  but 
for  the  management  of  which,  my  age,  infirmities, 
and  approaching  end,  totally  disqualify  me.  There 
is  no  such  man  in  the  House.  — Diary,  Oct.  23, 
1837. 

[To  this  he  added  on  the  28th.] 

There  was  in  the  National  Intelligencer  of  this 
morning  an  advertisement,  again,  of  the  sale  of  a 
woman  and  two  children,  at  eleven  o'clock.  I 
went  between  eleven  and  twelve  o'clock  to  the 
room.  The  woman  and  children,  girls  of  seven 
and  nine  years  of  age,  were  there,  the  woman 
weeping  and  wailing  most  piteously.  I  inquired 
of  Dyer  if  they  were  sold.  He  said,  no,  that  they 
had  been  sold  last  Monday,  and  bought  in  by  the 


154  CHIPS   FROM   THE   WHITE   HOUSE. 

husband  of  the  woman,  who  was  free,  and  a 
waiter  at  Gadsby's ;  he  had  bought  them  in  for 
four  hundred  and  seventy-five  dollars,  but  was  un- 
able to  raise  the  money,  which  was  the  reason  why 
they  were  to  be  sold  again.  They  were  waiting 
for  the  man,  who  was  endeavoring  to  procure,  by 
subscription,  upon  his  own  engagement  to  repay 
the  money,  the  means  of  paying  for  his  purchase 
last  Monday.  [On  the  13th  of  November  Mr. 
Adams  paid  fifty  dollars  towards  this  object,  and 
General  Walter  Smith,  of  Georgetown,  undertook, 
with  the  other  subscriptions,  to  pay  the  whole 
sum  and  take  the  bill  of  sale,  by  which  the  emanci- 
pation was  secured.] 

[On  presenting  what  professed  to  be  a  petition  from  some 
slaves,  in  the  House  of  Representatives,  February  7, 1837, 
which  created  intense  excitement,  Mr.  Adams  said]  : 

Sir,  it  is  well  known  that  from  the  time  I  entered 
this  House  down  to  the  present  day,  I  have  felt  it 
a  sacred  duty  to  present  any  petition  couched  in 
respectful  language,  from  any  citizen  of  the  United 
States,  be  its  object  what  it  ma}' :  be  the  prayer 
of  it  that  in  which  I  could  concur,  or  that  to  which 
I  was  utterly  opposed.  It  is  for  the  sacred  right 
of  petition  that  I  have  adopted  this  course 

Where  is  your  law  which  says  that  the  mean, 
the  low,  and  the  degraded  shall  be  deprived  of  the 
right  of  petition  —  if  their  moral  character  is  not 


JOHN  QUINCY  ADAMS.          155 

good?  Where,  in  the  land  of  freemen,  was  the 
right  of  petition  ever  placed  on  the  exclusive  basis 
of  morality  and  virtue  ?  Petition  is  supplication  — 
it  is  entreaty  —  it  is  prayer!  And  where  is  the 
degree  of  vice  or  immorality  which  shall  deprive 
the  citizen  of  the  right  to  supplicate  for  a  boon,  or 
to  pray  for  mercy  $  Where  is  such  a  law  to  be 
found  ?  It  does  not  belong  to  the  most  abject  des- 
potism. There  is  no  absolute  monarch  on  earth 
who  is  not  compelled  by  the  Constitution  of  his 
country  to  receive  the  petitions  of  his  people, 
whosoever  they  may  be.  The  Sultan  of  Constan- 
tinople cannot  walk  the  streets  and  refuse  to  re- 
ceive petitions  from  the  meanest  and  vilest  of  the 
land.  This  is  the  law  even  of  despotism.  And 
what  does  your  law  say  ?  Does  it  say  that  before 
presenting  a  petition  you  shall  look  into  it,  and  see 
whether  it  comes  from  the  virtuous,  and  the  great, 
and  the  mighty?  No,  sir,  it  says  no  such  thing. 
The  right  of  petition  belongs  to  all.  And  so  far 
from  refusing  to  present  a  petition  because  it  might 
come  from  those  low  in  the  estimation  of  the  world, 
it  would  be  an  additional  incentive,  if  such  incen- 
tive were  wanting. 


156  CHIPS   FROM   THE   WHITE   HOUSE. 


[Speech  in  the  House  of  Representatives,  upon  a  petition 
from  the  women  of  Plymouth,  Mass.,  remonstrating 
against  the  annexation  of  Texas,  as  a  slaveholding  ter- 
ritory.] 

June  26,  1838. 

The  honorable  gentleman  [Mr.  Howard] 

considered  it  "  discreditable  "  not  only  to  the  sec- 
tion of  country  whence  these  memorials  came,  but 
discreditable  to  the  nation.  Sir,  was  it  from  a  son 
—  was  it  from  a  father  —  was  it  from  a  husband, 
that  I  heard  these  words?  Does  the  gentleman 
consider  that  women,  by  petitioning  this  House  in 
favor  of  suffering  and  distress,  perform  an  office 
"  discreditable "  to  themselves,  to  the  section  of 
country  where  they  reside,  and  to  this  nation?  I 
trust  to  the  good  nature  of  that  gentleman  that  he 
will  retract  such  an  assertion.  I  have  a  right  to 
make  this  call  upon  him.  It  is  to  the  wives  and 
to  the  daughters  of  my  constituents  that  he  applies 
this  language.  Am  I  to  consider  their  conduct  in 
petitioning  this  House  as  a  discredit  to  that  section 
of  the  Union  and  to  their  country?  Sir,  if  there 
is  anything  in  which  they  could  do  honor  to  their 
country,  it  was  in  this  very  act.  He  says  that 
women  have  no  right  to  petition  Congress  on  polit- 
ical subjects.  Why,  sir,  what  does  the  gentleman 
understand  by  "  political  subjects?"  Everything 
in  which  this  House  has  an  agency  —  everything 
which  relates  to  peace  and  relates  to  war,  or  to  any 


JOHN  QUINCY  ADAMS.  157 

other  of  the  great  interests  of  society,  is  a  politi- 
cal subject.  Are  women  to  have  no  opinions  or 
action  on  subjects  relating  to  the  general  welfare  ? 
This  must  be  the  gentleman's  principle.  "Where 
did  he  get  it  ?  Did  he  find  it  in  Sacred  history  ? 
in  the  account  which  is  given  of  the  emigration  of 
a  whole  nation  from  the  land  of  Egypt,  under  the 
guidance  of  Moses  and  Aaron?  What  was  the 
language  of  Miriam,  the  prophetess,  when,  after 
one  of  the  noblest  and  most  sublime  songs  of  tri- 
umph that  ever  met  the  human  eye  or  ear,  it  is 
said : 

"And  Miriam,  the  prophetess,  the  sister  of 
Aaron,  took  a  timbrel  in  her  hand ;  and  all  the 
women  went  out  after  her  with  timbrels  and  with 
dances.  And  Miriam  answered  them,  Sing  ye  to 
the  Lord,  for  he  hath  triumphed  gloriously ;  the 
horse  and  his  rider  hath  he  thrown  into  the  sea." 

Sir,  is  it  in  that  portion  of  sacred  history  that 
he  finds  the  principle  that  it  is  improper  for  women 
to  take  any  concern  in  public  affairs  ?  This  hap- 
pened in  the  infancy  of  the  Jewish  nation.  But 
has  the  gentleman  never  read  or  heard  read  the 
account  which  is  given,  at  a  later  period,  of  the 
victory  of  Deborah? 

"  And  Deborah,  a  prophetess,  the  wife  of  Lapi- 
doth,  she  judged  Israel  at  that  time.  And  she 
dwelt  under  the  palm-tree  of  Deborah,  between 
Kamah  and  Bethel,  in  Mount  Ephraim ;  and  the 
children  of  Israel  came  to  her  for  judgment." 


158  CHIPS   FROM   THE    WHITE    HOUSE. 

Has  he  never  read  that  inspiring  cry : 
"  Awake,  awake,  Deborah  ;  awake,  awake,  utter 
a  song ;  arise  Barak,  and  lead  thy  captivity  cap- 
tive, thou  son  of  Abinoam." 

Is  the  principle  recognized  here  that  women 
have  nothing  to  do  with  political  affairs?  —  no, 
not  so  much  as  even  to  petition  in  regard  to  them  ? 
Has  he  forgotten  the  deed  of  Jael,  who  slew  the 
dreaded  enemy  of  her  country,  who  had  so  often 
invaded  and  ravaged  it?  Has  he  forgotten  the 
name  of  Esther,  who,  by  a  PETITION,  saved  her 
people  and  her  country?  .  .  .  Sir,  I  might  go 
through  the  whole  of  the  Sacred  history  of  the 
Jews,  down  to  the  advent  of  our  Saviour,  and  find 
innumerable  examples  of  women  who  not  only 
took  an  active  part  in  the  politics  of  their  times, 
but  who  are  held  up  with  honor  to  posterity  be- 
cause they  did  so.  I  might  point  him  to  the 
names  of  Abigail,  of  Huldah,  of  Judith,  the 
beautiful  widow  of  Bethulia,  who,  in  the  days  of 
the  captivity,  slew  Holofernes,  the  commanding- 
general  of  the  King  of  Babylon.  But  let  me 
come  down  to  a  happier  age  under  the  dispen- 
sation of  the  new  covenant.  .  .  .  But  now,  to 
leave  sacred  history  and  go  to  profane  history. 
Does  the  chairman  of  the  Committee  find  there 
that  it  is  "  discreditable  "  for  women  to  take  any 
interest  or  any  part  in  political  affairs  ?  Let  him 
read  the  history  of  Greece.  Let  him  examine  the 


JOHN  QUIXCY  ADAMS.  159 

character  of  Aspasia,  and  this  in  a  country  where 
the  conduct  and  freedom  of  women  were  more  se- 
verely restricted  than  in  any  modern  nation,  save 
among  the  Turks.  It  was  in  Athens,  where  female 
character  had  not  that  full  development  which  is 
permitted  to  it  in  our  state  of  society.  .  .  .  Can 
he  have  forgotten  the  innumerable  instances  re- 
corded by  the  profane  historians,  where  women 
distinguished,  nay,  immortalized  their  names,  by 
the  part  they  took  in  the  affairs  of  their  country  ? 

Why  does  it  follow  that  women  are 

fitted  for  nothing  but  the  cares  of  domestic  life  ? 
for  bearing  children  and  cooking  the  food  of  a 
family?  devoting  all  their  time  to  the  domestic  cir- 
cle, to  promoting  the  immediate  personal  comfort 
of  their  husbands,  brothers,  and  sons?  Observe, 
sir,  the  point  of  departure  between  the  chairman 
of  the  committee  and  myself.  I  admit  that  it  is 
their  duty  to  attend  to  these  things.  I  subscribe 
fully  to  the  elegant  compliment  passed  by  him 
upon  those  members  of  the  female  sex  who  devote 
their  time  to  these  duties.  But  I  say  that  the 
correct  principle  is,  that  women  are  not  only  jus- 
tified, but  exhibit  the  most  exalted  virtue  when 
they  do  depart  from  the  domestic  circle,  and  enter 
on  the  concerns  of  their  country,  of  humanity,  and 
of  their  God.  The  mere  departure  of  woman 
from  the  duties  of  the  domestic  circle,  far  from 
being  a  reproach  to  her,  is  a  virtue  of  the  highest 


160  CHIPS  FROM  THE  WHITE  HOUSE. 

order,  when  it  is  done  from  purity  of  motive,  by 
appropriate  means,  and  towards  a  virtuous  pur- 
pose. There  is  the  true  distinction.  The  motive 
must  be  pure,  the  means  appropriate,  and  the  pur- 
pose good.  And  I  say  that  woman,  by  the  dis- 
charge of  such  duties,  has  manifested  a  virtue 
which  is  even  above  the  virtues  of  mankind,  and 
approaches  to  a  superior  nature. 

[Speech  in  the  House  of  Representatives,  1838.] 

I  am  well  aware  of  the  change  which  is  taking 
place  in  the  moral  and  political  philosophy  of  the 
South.  I  know  well  that  the  doctrine  of  the  Dec- 
laration of  Independence,  that  "  all  men  are  born 
free  and  equal,"  is  there  held  as  incendiary  doc- 
trine, and  deserves  Lynching ;  that  the  Declara- 
tion itself  is  a  farrago  of  abstractions.  I  know  all 
tin's  perfectly ;  and  that  is  the  very  reason  that  I 
want  to  put  my  foot  upon  such  doctrine  ;  that  I  want 
to  drive  it  back  to  its  fountain,  —  its  corrupt  foun- 
tain, —  .and  pursue  it  till  it  is  made  to  disappear 
from  this  land  and  from  the  world.  Sir,  this  phi- 
losophy of  the  South  has  done  more  to  blacken  the 
character  of  this  country  in  Europe  than  all  other 
causes  put  together.  They  point  to  us  as  a  nation 
of  liars  and  hypocrites,  who  publish  to  the  world 
that  all  men  are  born  free  and  equal,  and  then  hold 
a  large  portion  of  our  own  population  in  bondage. 

But  I  have  been  drawn  into  observations  which 


JOHN  QUIXCT   ADAMS.  161 

are,  here,  very  much  out  of  place ;  and  which  I 
probably  should  not  have  made,  and  certainly  not 
with  the  force  I  have  endeavored  to  give  them, 
had  it  not  been  for  the  interruption  of  the  gentle- 
man from  South  Carolina.*  If  he  will  put  such 
questions  he  must  expect  to  receive  answers  cor- 
responding to  them  ;  and  he  will  receive  not  only 
my  answer,  but  those  of  others,  who  are  far 
deeper  thinkers  than  I,  not  only  in  this  country 
but  abroad ;  for.  this  debate  will  go  on  the  wings 
of  the  wind.  The  account  of  the  gentleman's  prin- 
ciples will  come  back  from  all  parts  of  Europe -and 
of  the  civilized  world  in  hisses  and  execrations 
that  a  man  should  have  been  found,  in  the  highest 
legislative  body  of  this  free  republic,  to  avow 
opinions  such  as  we  have  just  heard  from  the  lips 
of  that  gentleman.  I  shall  dismiss  that  branch  of 
the  subject  now.  If  the  gentleman  is  desirous  of 
more ;  if  he  wishes  to  enter  into  a  full  and  strict 
scrutiny  of  the  question  of  slavery  in  all  its '  bear- 
ings, either  at  this  session  or  the  next,  and  God 
shall  give  me  life,  and  breath,  and  the  faculty  of 
speech,  he  shall  have  it  to  his  heart's  content. 

*  Mr.  Campbell  had  said,  among  other  remarks,  that 
"  many  worthy  men,  who  were  formerly  somewhat  uneasy 
at  the  existence  of  this  institution,  now  feel  themselves 
called  upon  by  every  motive,  personal  and  private,  by  every 
consideration,  public  and  patriotic,  to  guard  it  with  the  most 
jealous  watchfulness,  —  to  defend  it  at  every  hazard." 
11 


162  CHIPS   FROM   THE   WHITE   HOUSE. 

[From  the  same  Speech.] 

The  Declaration  of  Independence,  which  united 
the  people  of  thirteen  separate  and  independent 
states  into  one,  speaks  from  the  beginning  to  the 
end  in  the  name  of  the  people.  ...  I  pass  on  to 
the  Constitution  of  the  United  States.  .  .  .  The 
very  first  words  were  such  as  put  the  People  in 
action ;  they  declare  that  it  is  the  act  of  one  People 
who  have  separated  themselves  from  another,  and 
have  agreed  to  frame  for  themselves  this  Consti- 
tution of  Government. 

I  shall  not  enter  on  the  captious  quibbling 
whether  the  People  voted  man  by  man,  through- 
out the  Union,  or  whether  they  voted  by  their  rep- 
resentatives in  special  conventions  assembled  in 
each  of  the  states  separately.  It  is  not  necessary 
to  settle  any  such  questions.  These  are  the  cob- 
web threads  of  justification,  all  spun  from  the 
bowels  of  slavery.  The  language  of  the  whole 
instrument  is,  "We,  the  People."  It  has,  from 
the  beginning,  been  the  government  of  "  us,  the 
People,"  and  will,  I  trust,  be  that  of  posterity. 

The  conflict  between  the  principle  of  liberty  and 
the  fact  of  slavery  is  coming  gradually  to  an  issue. 
Slavery  has  now  the  power,  and  falls  into  convul- 
sions at  the  approach  of  freedom.  That  the  fall 
of  slavery  is  predetermined  in  the  counsels  of 
Omnipotence,  I  cannot  doubt ;  it  is  a  part  of  the 
great  moral  improvement  in  the  condition  of  man, 


JOHN   QUINCY  ADAMS.  163 

attested  by  all  the  records  of  history.  But  the 
conflict  will  be  terrible,  and  the  progress  of  im- 
provement perhaps  retrograde  before  its  final 
progress  to  consummation.  —  Diary,  December 
13,  1838. 

On  December  20th,  1838,  in  the  House  of  Bep- 
resentatives,  Mr.  Adams  presented  a  petition  for 
the  establishment  of  international  relations  with 
the  Republic  of  Hayti,  and  said :  .  .  .  Then,  sir, 
I  come  back  to  my  position,  that  every  man  in 
this  country  has  a  right  to  be  an  abolitionist,  and 
that  in  being  so  he  offends  no  law,  but,  in  my 
opinion,  obeys  the  most  sacred  of  all  laws. 

[In  1832,  South  Carolina  passed  an  ordinance 
declaring  the  tariff  laws  "  null  and  void,"  and  that 
the  State  would  secede  from  the  Union  if  force 
should  be  employed  to  collect  any  revenue  at 
Charleston ;  upon  which  President  Jackson  issued 
a  Proclamation  denouncing  "nullification,"  and 
declaring  his  purpose  to  execute  the  laws.  It  was 
in  December  of  this  year,  that  Mr.  Adams  wrote 
in  his  Diary]  :  "  I  told  Hoffman  that  the  real  ques- 
tion now  convulsing  this  Union  was,  whether  a 
population  spread  over  an  immense  territory,  con- 
sisting of  one  great  division,  all  freemen,  and  an- 
other, of  masters  and  slaves,  could  exist  perma- 
nently together  as  members  of  one  community  or 


164  CHIPS   FROM   THE   WHITE   HOUSE. 

not ;  tnat,  to  go  a  step  further  back,  the  question 
at  issue  was  slavery." 

I  do  believe  slavery  to  be  a  sin  before  God.  — 
Speech  in  the  House  of  Representatives,  1838. 

It  is  among  the  evils  of  slavery,  that  it  taints 
the  very  sources  of  moral  principle.  It  estab- 
lishes false  estimates  of  virtue  and  vice  ;  for  what 
can  be  more  false  and  more  heartless  than  this 
doctrine,  which  makes  the  first  and  holiest  rights 
of  humanity  to  depend  upon  the  color  of  the  skin  ? 
It  perverts  human  reason,  and  induces  men  en- 
dowed with  logical  powers  to  maintain  that  slavery 
is  sanctioned  by  the  Christian  religion ;  that  slaves 
are  happy  and  contented  in  their  condition ;  that 
between  master  and  slave  there  are  ties  of  mutual 
attachment  and  affection ;  that  the  virtues  of  the 
master  are  refined  and  exalted  by  the  degradation 
of  the  slave,  while,  at  the  same  time,  they  vent 
execrations  upon  the  slave-trade,  curse  Britain 
for  having  given  them  slaves,  burn  at  the  stake 
negroes  convicted  of  crimes,  for  the  terror  of  the 
example,  and  writhe  in  agonies  of  fear  at  the  very 
mention  of  human  rights  as  applicable  to  men  of 
color.  —  Diary. 

[From  the  Introduction  to  the  Memoir  of  Elijah  P.  Lovejoy, 
1838.] 

In  the  biographical  narratives  of  the  Founder 
of  the  Christian  religion,  and  of  his  primitive  dis- 


JOHN    QUINCY   ADAMS.  165 

ciples,  there  is  an  internal  evidence  of  truth,  not 
less  conclusive  than  that  of  the  miracles  which 
they  performed.  The  miracles  were  the  evidence 
necessary  to  prove  the  authenticity  of  his  mission 
to  his  contemporaries,  to  whom  he  was  accredited, 
to  whom  he  revealed  the  hidden  mystery  of  their 
own  immortality,  and  to  whom  he  proclaimed  the 
laws  of  their  own  nature,  the  obligations  of  mutual 
benevolence  and  charity  :  —  love  upon  earth  and  life 
hereafter  were  the  everlasting  pillars  of  his  system 

of  religion  and  of  morals 

In  the  progressive  revolutions  effected  by  the 
Christian  system  of  religion  and  morals,  it  was  in 
the  order  of  Providence  that  its  operations  should 
be  slow  and  gradual,  embracing  a  period  of  many 
thousand  years.  ...  In  these  doctrines  [of  uni- 
versal love  and  eternal  life] ,  however,  there  was  a 
principle  of  vitality  destined  to  survive  all  persecu- 
tion, and  to  triumph  over  all  human  power.  The 
moral  precepts  of  the  Levitical  law,  purified  and 
refined,  shone  with  undying  lustre  in  the  new  dispen- 
sation,— its  rites  and  ceremonies,  its  priests  and 
Levites,  its  sacrifices  of  blood,  its  visions,  and  its 
dreams,  gave  way  to  a  simple  and  spiritual  form  of 
worship  ;  the  working  of  miracles,  no  longer  neces- 
sary for  the  authentication  of  faith,  was  withdrawn 
from  the  disciples  of  the  cross,  and  the  new  sys- 
tem of  religion  and  morals  was  left  to  make  its 
way  in  the  world  by  the  perpetual  miracle  of  its 


166  CHIPS    FROM   THE    WHITE   HOUSE. 

celestial  origin,  self-evident  by  the  internal  dem- 
onstration of  its  irresistible  power  and  its  super- 
human perfection. 

[On  the  opening  of  the  26th  Congress,  De- 
cember, 1839,  there  being  a  twofold  delegation 
from  New  Jersey,  the  clerk,  on  reaching  that 
State,  refused  to  proceed  with  calling  the  roll,  and 
the  members  could  effect  no  organization.  It  was 
so  for  three  days.  On  the  fourth  day,  when  the 
State  of  New  Jersey  was  reached,*  Mr.  Adams 
rose  and  said]  :  "  I  rise  to  interrupt  the  clerk,"  — 
which  created  an  intense  excitement.  "  It  was  not 
my  intention  to  take  any  part  in  these  extraordi- 
nary proceedings.  I  had  hoped  that  this  House 
would  succeed  in  organizing  itself;  that  a  Speaker 

*  On  December  2,  1839,  at  the  opening  of  the  26th 
Congress,  the  clerk  commenced  calling  the  roll  of  mem- 
bers. When  he  came  to  New  Jersey,  (whose  members 
were  then  elected  by  general  ticket,)  he  stated  that  the 
seats  of  live  of  the  six  members  from  that  state  were  con- 
tested :  that  he  did  not  feel  authorized  to  decide  the  ques- 
tion of  their  right  to  their  seats,  and  that  lie  should  there- 
fore pass  over  their  names,  and  proceed  with  the  call.  The 
election  of  these  members  was  certified  to  by  the  governor 
of  New  Jersey.  It  so  happened  that  these  five  members 
were  all  whigs.  Parties  were  so  evenly  balanced  in  the 
House,  that  if  these  five  membci's  were  admitted  at  once, 
it  would  give  the  whigs  control  of  its  organization,  includ- 
ing the  election  of  Speaker.  —  Applcton's  New  Amer.  Cyclop., 
Art.  Fillmore. 


JOHN  QUINCY  ADAMS.  167 

and  Clerk  would  be  elected,  and  the  ordinary 
business  of  legislation  would  go  on.  This  is  not 
the  time  or  place  to  discuss  the  merits  of  the  con- 
flicting claimants  for  seats  from  New  Jersey ;  the 
subject  belongs  to  the  House  of  Representatives, 
which,  by  the  Constitution,  is  made  the  ultimate 
arbiter  of  the  qualifications  of  its  members.  But 
what  a  spectacle  we  here  present !  We  degrade 
and  disgrace  ourselves ;  we  degrade  and  disgrace 
our  constituents  and  the  cpuntry.  We  do  not, 
and  cannot  organize ;  and  why  ?  Because  the 
clerk  of  this  house,  the  mere  clerk,  whom  we  create, 
whom  we  employ,  and  whose  existence  depends 
upon  our  will,  usurps  the  throne,  and  sets  us,  the 
Representatives,  the  vicegerents  of  the  whole 
American  people,  at  defiance,  and  holds  us  in  con- 
tempt. And  what  is  this  clerk  of  yours  ?  Is  he 
to  control  the  destinies  of  sixteen  millions  of  free- 
men? Is  he  to  suspend,  by  his  mere  negative, 
the  .functions  of  government,  and  put  an  end  to 
this  Congress  ?  He  refuses  to  call  the  roll !  It  is 
in  your  power  to  compel  him  to  call  it,  if  he  will 
not  do  it  voluntarily.  [A  member  "here  said  that 
he  was  authorized  to  say  that  the  clerk  would 
resign  rather  than  call  the  roll  of  New  Jersey.] 
Well,  sir,  then  let  him  resign,  and  we  may  pos- 
sibly discover  some  way  by  which  we  can  get 
along  without  the  aid  of  his  all-powerful  talent, 
learning,  and  genius.  If  we  cannot  organize  in 


168  CHIPS   FROM   THE    WHITE    HOUSE. 

any  other  way  —  if  this  clerk  of  yours  will  not 
consent  to  our  discharging  the  trusts  confided  to 
us  by  our  constituents,  then  let  us  imitate  the  ex- 
ample of  the  Virginia  House  of  Burgesses,  which, 
when  the  colonial  governor,  Dinwiddie,  ordered  it 
to  disperse,  refused  to  obey  the  imperious  and 
insulting  mandate,  and,  like  men  —  [here  followed 
a  burst  of  enthusiasm,  when  Mr.  Adams  sub- 
mitted a  motion  requiring  the  acting  clerk  to  pro- 
ceed in  calling  the  roll.  Many  members  inquiring, 
"  How  shall  the  question  be  put?"  "Who  will  put 
the  question?"  Mr.  Adams  replied,  "/  intend  to 
put  the  question  my  self  I"  Whereupon  Mr.  Rhett, 
of  South  Carolina,  exclaimed,  "I  move  that  the 
Hon.  John  Quincy  Adams  take  the  chair  of  the 
Speaker  of  this  House,  and  officiate  as  presiding 
officer  till  the  House  be  organized  by  the  election 
of  its  constitutional  officers.  As  many  as  agree  to 
this  will  say,  Aye  ;  those  —  "  which  was  followed 
by  an  universal  shout  of  Aye.  And  order  came 
out  of  confusion.] 

[A  "gag-law,"  forbidding  the  presentation  of 
petitions  on  the  subject  of  slavery,  having  passed 
the  House  of  Representatives,  Mr.  Adams,  at  the 
commencement  of  each  subsequent  session,  de- 
manded its  abolition,  and  continued  to  hand  in 
petitions  as  before.  He  was  threatened  with  ex- 
pulsion, assassination,  and  indictment  before  the 


JOHN  QUINCY  ADAMS.  169 

grand  jury  of  the  District  of  Columbia.     On  one 
occasion  he  said]  : 

Do  the  gentlemen  from  the  South  think  they 
can  frighten  me  by  their  threats  ?  If  that  be  their 
object,  let  me  tell  them,  sir,  they  have  mistaken 
their  man.  I  am  not  to  be  frightened  from  the 
discharge  of  a  sacred  duty  by  their  indignation, 
by  their  violence,  nor,  sir,  by  all  the  grand  juries 
in  the  universe.  I  have  done  only  my  duty ;  and 
I  shall  do  it  again  under  the  same  circumstances, 
even  though  they  recur  to-morrow. 

[When,  in  the  year  1845,  the  "gag-law"  was  re- 
scinded, Mr.  Adams  exclaimed]  :  "  God  be  praised ; 
the  seals  are  broken,  the  door  is  open." 

[In  an  address  at  Pittsfield,  Mass,  in  1843,  he 
said]  :  In  1775  the  minute-men  from  a  hundred 
towns  in  the  province  were  marching  at  a  moment's 
warning  to  the  scene  of  opening  war.  Many  of 
them  called  at  my  father's  house  in  Quincy,  and 
received  the  hospitality  of  John  Adams.  All  were 
lodged  in  the  house  whom  the  house  would  con- 
tain ;  others  in  the  barns,  and  wherever  they  could 
find  a  place.  There  were  then  in  my  father's  kitchen 
some  dozen  or  two  of  pewter  spoons ;  and  I  well 
recall  going  into  the  kitchen  and  seeing  some  of 
the  men  engaged  in  running  those  spoons  into  bul- 
lets for  the  use  of  the  troops !  Do  you  wonder 


170  CHIPS   FROM   THE   WHITE    HOUSE. 

that  a  boy  of  seven  years  of  age,  who  witnessed 
this  scene,  should  be  a  patriot? 

The  influence   of  Mr.  Jefferson  over 

the  mind  of  Mr.  Madison  was  composed  of  all  that 
genius,  talent,  experience,  splendid  public  ser- 
vices, exalted  reputation,  added  to  congenial  tem- 
per, undivided  friendship,  and  habitual  sympathies 
of  interest  and  of  feeling  could  inspire.  Among  the 
numerous  blessings  which  it  was  the  rare  good 
fortune  of  Mr.  Jefferson's  life  to  enjoy,  was  that 
of  the  uninterrupted,  disinterested,  and  efficient 
friendship  of  Madison.  But  it  was  the  friendship 
of  a  mind  not  inferior  in  capacity,  and  tempered 
with  a  calmer  sensibility  and  a  cooler  judgment 
than  his  own.  —  Eulogy  on  President  Madison. 

A  confederation  is  not  a  country.  There  is  no 
magnet  of  attraction  in  any  league  of  sovereign 
and  independent  states  which  causes  the  heart- 
strings of  the  individual  man  to  vibrate  in  unison 
with  those  of  his  neighbor.  Confederates  are  not 
counfrymen.  —  Eulogy  on  President  Madison. 

The  Declaration  of  Independence  annulled  the 
national  character  of  the  American  people.  That 
character  had  been  common  to  them  all  as  subjects 
of  one  and  the  same  sovereign,  and  that  sovereign 
was  a  king.  The  dissolution  of  that  tie  was  pro- 


JOHN   QUINCY   ADAMS.  171 

nounced  by  one  act  common  to  them  all,  and  it 
left  them  as  members  of  distinct  communities  in 
the  relation  towards  each  other,  bound  only  by  the 
obligations  of  the  law  of  nature  and  of  the  Union, 
by  which  they  had  renounced  their  connection 
with  the  mother  country. 

But  what  was  to  be  the  character  of  their 
national  existence?  This  was  the  problem  of 
difficult  solution  for  them ;  and  this  was  the 
opening  of  the  new  era  in  the  science  of  govern- 
ment, and  in  the  history  of  mankind.  —  Eulogy  on 
President  Madison. 

[From  the  same.] 

The   principle    that  religious   opinions 

are  altogether  beyond  the*  sphere  of  legislative 
control  is  but  one  modification  of  a  more  exten- 
sive axiom,  which  includes  the  unlimited  freedom 
of  the  press,  of  speech,  and  of  the  communication 
of  thought  in  all  its  forms. 

[From  the  same.] 

In  most  of  the  inspirations  of  genius  there  is 
a  simplicity  which,  when  they  are  familiarized 
to  the  general  understanding  of  men  by  their 
effects,  detracts  from  the  opinion  of  their  great- 
ness. That  the  people  of  the  British  colonies, 
who,  by  their  united  counsels  and  energies,  had 
achieved  their  independence,  should  continue  to  be 


172  CHIPS   FROM   THE    WHITE    HOUSE. 

one  people,  and  constitute  a  nation  under  the  form 
of  one  organized  government,  was  an  idea  in  itself 
so  simple,  and  addressed  itself  at  once  so  forcibly 
to  the  reason,  to  the  imagination,  and  to  the 
benevolent  feelings  of  all,  that  it  can  scarcely  be 
supposed  to  have  escaped  the  mind  of  any  reflect- 
ing man  from  Maine  to  Georgia.  It  was  the  dic- 
tate of  nature.  But  no  sooner  was  it  conceived 
than  it  was  met  by  obstacles  innumerable  and  in- 
superable to  the  general  mass  of  mankind.  They 
resulted  from  the  existing  social  institutions,  di- 
versiiied  among  the  parties  to  the  projected  na- 
tional union,  and  seeming  to  render  it  impractica- 
ble. There  were  chartered  rights,  for. the  main- 
tenance of  which  the  war  of  the  revolution  itself 
had  first  been  waged.  •  There  were  state  sovereign- 
ties, corporate  feudal  baronies,  tenacious  of  their 
own  liberty,  impatient  of  a  superior,  and  jealous  and 
disdainful  of  a  paramount  sovereign,  even  in  the 
whole  democracy  of  the  nation.  There  were  colli- 
sions of  boundary  and  of  proprietary  right  west- 
ward in  the  soil ;  southward,  in  its  cultivator.  In 
fine,  the  diversities  of  interests,  of  opinions,  of  man- 
ners, of  habits,  and  even  of  extraction,  were  so 
great,  that  the  plan  of  constituting  them  one  peo- 
ple appears  not  even  to  have  occurred  to  any  of 
the  members  of  the  convention  *  before  they  were 

*  For  forming  new  Constitution. 


JOHN   QUINCY   ADAMS.  173 

assembled  together.  .  .  .  Nearly  four  months  of 
anxious  deliberation  were  employed  by  an  ^assem- 
bly  composed  of  the  men  who  had  been  the  most 
distinguished  for  their  services,  civil  and  military, 
in  conducting  the  country  through  the  arduous 
struggles  of  the  revolution ;  of  men  who,  to  the 
fire  of  genius,  added  all  the  lights  of  experience, 
and  were  stimulated  by  the  impulses  at  once  of 
ardent  patriotism  and  of  individual  ambition 
aspiring  to  that  last  and  most  arduous  labor  of 
constituting  a  nation  destined  in  after  times  to 
present  a  model  of  government  for  all  the  civil- 
ized nations  of  the  earth 

[From  the  same.] 

Government,  in  the  first  and  most  obvious 
aspect  which  it  assumes,  is  a  restraint  upon  hu- 
man action,  and,  as  such,  a  restraint  upon  liberty. 
The  constitution  of  the  United  States  was  intended 
to  be  a  government  of  great  energy,  and,  of 
course,  of  extensive  restriction,  not  only  upon  in- 
dividual liberty,  but  upon  the  corporate  action  of 
states  claiming  to  be  sovereign  and  independent. 
The  convention  had  been  aware  that  such  restraints 
upon  the  p&ople  could  be  imposed  by  no  earthly 
power  other  than  the  people  themselves.  They 
were  aware  that  to  induce  the  people  to  impose 
upon  themselves  such  binding  ligaments,  motives 
not  less  cogent  than  those  which  form  the  basis  of 


174  CHIPS   FROM   THE   WHITE   HOUSE. 

human  association  were  indispensably  necessary ; 
that  the  first  principles  of  politics  must  be  indis- 
solubly  linked  with  the  first  principles  of  morals. 
They  assumed,  therefore,  the  existence  of  a  Peo- 
ple of  the  United  States,  and  made  them  declare 
the  constitution  to  be  their  own  work,  speaking 
in  the  first  person,  and  saying,  We,  the  People  of 
the  United  States,  do  ordain  and  establish  this 
constitution  for  the  United  States  of  America ; 
and  then  the  allegation  of  motives,  to  form  a  more 
perfect  union,  to  establish  justice,  insure  domestic 
tranquillity,  provide  for  the  common  defence,  pro- 
mote the  general  welfare,  and  secure  the  blessings 
of  liberty  to  ourselves  and  our  posterity.  These 
are  precisely  the  purposes  for  which  it  has  pleased 
the  Author  of  nature  to  make  man  a  social  being, 
and  has  blended  into  one  his  happiness  with  that 
of  his  kind. 

How  much  of  the  South  Carolina  character  origi- 
nated in  Locke's  Constitution  ?  How  much  in  the 
sub-tropical  climate  ?  How  much  in  the  cultivation 
of  indigo,  rice,  and  cotton?  How  much  (more 
than  all  the  rest)  in  negro  slavery?  How  much 
in  the  Christian  religion  ?  And .  how  much  in 
Anglo-Saxon  descent?  These  elements,  mixed 
with  the  casual  diversities  of  individual  men  in  the 
progress  of  population,  have  produced  an  average 
associate  character  different  from  that  of  any  other 


JOHN   QUINCY   ADAMS.  175 

state  in  the  Union  —  from  none  more  than  from 
that  of  its  next-door  neighbour,  North  Carolina. 
This  character  shows  itself  everywhere  —  in  the 
city,  in  the  field,  by  the  family  fireside,  in  the 
social  circle,  at  the  bar,  in  the  legislative  hall,  and 
finally  in  the  pulpit.  — Diary,  May,  1840. 


176  CHIPS   FROM   THE   WHITE   HOUSE. 


AKDEEW  JACKSON. 

BORN,  1767;  DIED,  1845,  AGED  78.— BEGAN  PRACTICE  OF  LAW, 
1786.  — SOLICITOR  OF  THE  WESTERN  DISTRICT  OF  N.  CAR- 
OLINA, 1788.— DISTRICT  ATTORNEY  OF  TENNESSEE,  1796.— 
MEMBER  OF  CONVENTION  TO  FRAME  A  CONSTITUTION  FOR 
TENNESSEE,  1796.  —  REPRESENTATIVE  IN  CONGRESS,  1796. 

—  UNITED    STATES  SENATOR,  1797.  —  JUSTICE   IN  THE    SU- 
PREME  COURT   OF   TENNESSEE,    1798.— ENGAGED    IN  THE 
CREEK  WAR,  1813,  1814.  — MA JOR-GENERAL  IN  THE  UNITED 
STATES  ARMY,  1814.  —  COMMANDER  AT  NEW  ORLEANS,  1815. 

—  COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF  OF  THE  SOUTHERN  DIVISION  OF 
THE  U.   S.,  1815— ENGAGED    IN  THE    SEMINOLE  WAR,    1817. 

—  GOVERNOR  OF  FLORIDA,  1829.  — UNITED  STATES  SENATOR, 
1823.— PRESIDENT,  1829-1837. 

[From  a  Message  to  Congress,  December,  1831.] 

[AFTER  a  review  of  our  foreign  relations,  the 
President  said]  :  "I  have  great  satisfaction  in  mak- 
ing this  statement  of  our  affairs,  because  the  course 
of  our  national  policy  enables  me  to  do  it  without 
any  indiscreet  exposure  of  what  in  other  govern- 
ments is  usually  concealed  from  the  people.  Hav- 
ing none  but  a  straightforward,  open  course  to 
pursue,  —  guided  by  a  single  principle  that  will 
bear  the  strongest  light,  —  we  have  happily  no 
political  combinations  to  form,  no  alliance  to  en- 
tangle us,  no  complicated  interests  to  consult ;  and 
in  subjecting  all  that  we  have  done  to  the  con- 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  177 

sideration  of  our  citizens,  and  to  the  inspection  of 
the  world,  we  give  no  advantage  to  other  nations, 
and  lay  ourselves  open  to  no  injury. 

[From  a  Message  to  Congress,  July  10,  1832.] 
The  Congress,  the  Executive,  and  the  [Supreme] 
Court  must  each  for  itself  be  guided  by  its  own 
opinion  of  the  Constitution.  Each  public  officer, 
who  takes  an  oath  to  support  the  Constitution, 
swears  that  he  will  support  it  as  as  he  understands 
it,  and  not  as  it  is  understood  by  others.  It  is  as 
much  the  duty  of  the  House  of  Eepresentatives, 
of  the  Senate,  and  of  the  President  to  decide  upon 
the  constitutionality  of  any  bill  or  resolution  which 
may  be  presented  to  them  for  passage  or  approval, 
as  it  is  of  the  Supreme  Judges,  when  it  may  be 
brought  before  them  for  judicial  decision.  The 
opinion  of  the  judges  has  no  more  authority  over 
Congress,  than  the  opinion  of  Congress  has  over 
the  judges,  and  on  that  point  the  President  is 
independent  of  both. 

It  is  to  be  regretted  that  the  rich  and  powerful 
too  often  bend  the  acts  of  government  to  their  self- 
ish purposes.  Distinctions  in  society  will  always 
exist  under  every  just  government.  Equality  of 
talents,  of  education,  or  of  wealth,  cannot  be  pro- 
duced by  human  institutions.  In  the  full  enjoy- 
ment of  the  gifts  of  Heaven  and  the  fruits  of 


178  CHIPS  FROM  THE   WHITE   HOUSE. 

superior  industry,  economy,  and  virtue,  every  man 
is  equally  entitled  to  protection  by  law.  But  when 
the  laws  undertake  to  add  to  these  natural  and  just 
advantages  artificial  distinctions,  to  grant  titles, 
gratuities,  and  exclusive  privileges  —  to  make  the 
rich  richer  and  the  potent  more  powerful  —  the 
humble  members  of  society  —  the  farmers,  me- 
chanics, and  laborers,  who  have  neither  the  time 
nor  the  means  of  securing  like  favors  to  them- 
selves, have  a  right  to  complain  of  the  injustice  of 
their  government.  There  are  no  necessary  evils 
in  government.  Its  evils  exist  only  in  its  abuses. 
If  it  would  confine  itself  to  equal  protection,  and, 
as  Heaven  does  its  rains,  shower  its  favors  alike  on 
the  high  and  the  low,  the  rich  and  the  poor,  it 
would  bo  an  unqualified  blessing. 

[Letter  to  Col.  A.  J.  Hamilton.] 

WASHINGTON,  November  2,  1832. 

Mr  DEAR  SIR  :  I  have  just  received  your  letter 
of  the  31st  ult.,  with  the  enclosure,  for  which  I 
thank  you. 

I  am  well  advised  of  the  views  and  proceedings 
of  the  great  leading  nullifiers  of  the  South  in  my 
native  State  (South  Carolina) ,  and  weep  for  its 
fate,  and  over  the  delusion  into  which  the  people 
are  led  by  the  wickedness,  ambition,  and  folly  of 
their  leaders.  I  have  no  doubt  of  the  intention 
of  their  leaders  to  alarm  the  other  States  to  submit 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  179 

to  their  views  rather  than  a  dissolution  of  the 
Union  should  take  place.  If  they  fail  in  this,  to 
cover- their  own  disgrace  and  wickedness,  to  nullify 
the  tariff,  and  secede  from  the  Union. 

We  are  wide  awake  here.  The  Union  will  be 
preserved,  rest  assured  of  this.  There  has  been 
too  much  blood  and  treasure  shed  to  obtain  it,  to 
let  it  be  surrendered  without  a  struggle.  Our 
liberty  and  that  of  the  whole  world  rests  upon  it, 
as  well  as  the  peace,  prosperity,  and  happiness  of 
these  United  States.  It  must  be  perpetuated. 

[Letter  to  Col.  J.  A.  Hamilton.] 

WASHINGTON,  December  6,  1832. 

Yours  of  the  3d  inst.  is  just  received.  I  accord 
with  you  fully  in  the  propriety  of  the  people  giv- 
ing fully  and  freely  their  sentiments  and  opinions 
on  nullification,  and  the  course  pursued  by  South 
Carolina  in  her  late  proceedings. 

The  ordinance  passed,  when  taken  in  connection 
with  the  Governor's  message,  is  rebellion  and  war 
against  the  Union.  The  raising  of  troops  under 
them  to  resist  the  laws  of  the  United  States  is 
absolute  treason.  The  crisis  must  be,  and  as  far 
as  my  constitutional  and  legal  powers  go,  will  be 
met  with  energy  and  firmness.  Therefore  the  pro- 
priety of  the  public  voice  being  heard,  and  it  ought 
now  to  be  spoken  in  a  voice  of  thunder  that  will 
make  the  leaders  of  the  nullifiers  tremble,  and 


180  CHIPS   FROM   THE    WHITE   HOUSE. 

which  will  cause  the  good  citizens  of  South  Caro- 
lina to  retrace  their  steps  and  adhere  to  that  con- 
stitution of  perpetual  union  they  have  sworn  to 
support.  This  treasonable  procedure  against  the 
Union  is  a  blow  against  not  only  our  liberties  but 
the  liberties  of  the  wo'rld. 

This  nullifying  movement  in  the  South  has  done 
no  great  injury  abroad,  and  must  not  only  be 
promptly  met  and  put  down,  but  frowned  down 
by  public  opinion.  It  is  therefore  highly  proper 
for  the  people  to  speak  all  over  the  Union.  I  am 
preparing  a  proclamation  to  the  people  of  the 
South,  and  as  soon  as  officially  advised  of  these 
rebellious  proceedings,  will  make  a  communication 
to  Congress. 


- 


[From  a  Message  to  Congress,  January  16,  1833.] 

A  recent  proclamation   of  the   present 

Governor  of  South  Carolina  has  openly  defied  the 
authority  of  the  Executive  of  the  Union,  and  gen- 
eral orders  from  the  head-quarters  of  the  State 
announced  his  determination  to  accept  the  services 
of  volunteers,  and  his  belief  that,  should  their 
country  need  their  services,  they  will  be  found  at 
the  post  of  honor  and  duty,  ready  to  lay  down 
their  lives  in  her  defence.  Under  these  orders,  the 
forces  referred  to  are  directed  to  "  hold  themselves 
in  readiness  to  take  the  field  at  a  moment's  warn- 
ing ;  and  in  the  city  of  Charleston,  within  a  collec- 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  181 

tion  district  and  a  port  of  entry,  a  rendezvous  has 
been  opened  for  the  purpose  of  enlisting  men  for 
the  magazine  and  municipal  guard.  Thus  South 
Carolina  presents  herself  in  the  attitude  of  hostile 
preparation,  a_nd  ready  even  for  military  violence, 
if  need  be,  to  enforce  her  laws  for  preventing  the 
collection  of  the  duties  within  her  limits 

It  therefore  becomes  my  duty  to  bring  the  sub- 
ject to  the  serious  consideration  of  Congress,  in 
order  that  such  measures  as  they,  in  their  wisdom, 
may  deem  fit,  shall  be  seasonably  provided ;  and 
that  it  may  be  thereby  understood  that,  while  the 
government  is  disposed  to  remove  all  just  cause  of 
complaint,  so  far  as  may  be  practicably  consistent 
with  a  proper  regard  to  the  interests  of  the  com- 
munity at  large,  it  is  nevertheless  determined  that 
the  supremacy  of  the  laws  shall  be  maintained. 

By  these  various  proceedings  the  State  of  South 
Carolina  has  forced  the  general  government,  un- 
avoidably, to  decide  the  new  and  dangerous  alter- 
native of  permitting  a  State  to  obstruct  the  execu- 
tion of  the  laws  within  its  limits,  or  seeing  it  able 
to  execute  a  threat  of  withdrawing  from  the  Union. 
That  portion  of  the  people  at  present  exercising 
the  authority  of  the  State  solemnly  assert  their 
right  to  do  either,  and  as  solemnly  announce  their 
determination  to  do  one  or  the  other. 

In  my  opinion  both  purposes  are  to  be  regarded 
as  revolutionary  in  their  character  and  tendency, 


182  CHIPS   FROM   THE   WHITE   HOUSE. 

and  subversive  of  the  supremacy  of  the  Constitu- 
tion and  of  the  integrity  of  the  Union.  The  result 
of  each  is  the  same ;  since  a  State,  in  which,  by  an 
usurpation  of  power,  the  constitutional  authority 
of  the  Federal  government  is  openly  defied  and  set 
aside,  wants  only  the  form  to  be  independent  of  the 
Union. 

The  right  of  the  people  of  a  single  State  to  ab- 
solve themselves  at  will,  and  without  the  consent 
of  other  States,  from  their  most  solemn  obligations, 
and  hazard  the  liberties  and  happiness  of  the  mil- 
lions composing  the  Union,  cannot  be  acknowl- 
edged. Such  authority  is  believed  to  be  utterly 
repugnant  both  to  the  principles  upon  which  the 
General  Government  is  constructed,  and  to  the  ob- 
jects which  it  is  expressly  formed  to  attain. 

Against  all  acts  which  may  be  alleged  to  tran- 
scend the  constitutional  power  of  the  government, 
or  which  may  be  inconvenient  and  oppressive  in 
their  operation,  the  Constitution  itself  has  pre- 
scribed the  modes  of  redress.  It  is  the  acknowl- 
edged attribute  of  free  institutions  that,  under 
them,  the  empire  of  reason  and  law  is  substituted 
for  the  power  of  the  sword.  To  no  other  source 
can  appeals  from  supposed  wrongs  be  made  con- 
sistently with  the  obligations  of  South  Carolina ; 
to  no  other  can  such  appeals  be  made  with  safety 
at  any  time ;  and  to  their  decisions,  when  consti- 
tutionally pronounced,  it  becomes  the  duty,  no 


ANDKEW  JACKSON.  183 

less  of  the  public  authorities  than  of  the  people,  in 
every  case  to  yield  to  a  patriotic  submission.   .   .   . 

Independently  of  these  considerations,  it  will 
not  escape  observation  that  South  Carolina  still 
claims  to  be  a  component  part  of  the  Union,  to 
participate  in  the  national  councils,  and  to  share  in 
the  public  benefits,  without  contributing  to  the 
public  burdens  —  thus  asserting  the  dangerous 
anomaly  of  continuing  in  an  association  without 
acknowledging  any  other  obligation  to  its  laws 
than  what  depends  upon  her  own  will. 

In  this  posture  of  affairs  the  duty  of  the  Govern- 
ment seems  to  be  plain.  It  inculcates  the  recog- 
nition of  that  State  as  a  member  of  the  Union,  and 
subject  to  its  authority ;  a  vindication  of  the  just 
power  of  the  Constitution ;  the  preservation  of  the 
integrity  of  the  Union,  and  the  execution  of  the 
laws  by  all  consistent  means 

While  a  forbearing  spirit  may,  and,  I  trust,  will, 
,be  exercised  towardsth  e  errors  of  our  brethren  in 
a  particular  quarter,  duty  to  the  rest  of  the  Union 
demands  that  open  and  organized  resistance  to  the 
laws  should  not  be  executed  with  impunity 

For  myself,  fellow-citizens,  devoutly  relying 
upon  that  kind  Providence  which  has  hitherto 
watched  over  our  destiny,  and  actuated  by  a  pro- 
found reverence  for  those  institutions  I  have  so 
much  cause  to  love,  and  for  the  American  people, 
whose  partiality  honored  me  with  this  high  trust, 


184  CHIPS  FROM   THE   WHITE  HOUSE. 

I  have  determined  to  spare  no  effort  to  discharge 
the  duty  which,  in  this  conjuncture,  is  devolved 
upon  me.  That  a  similar  spirit  will  actuate  the 
Representatives  of  the  American  people  is  not  to 
be  questioned ;  and  I  fervently  pray  that  the  Great 
Ruler  of  nations  may  so  guide  your  deliberations, 
and  our  joint  measures,  as  that  they  may  prove 
salutary  examples,  not  only  to  the  present,  but  to 
future  times  ;  and  solemnly  proclaim  that  the  Con- 
stitution and  the  laws  are  supreme,  and  the  Union 
indissoluble. 

[From  a  letter  to  Rev.  A.  J.  Crawford,  May  1,  1833.] 

The  tariff  was  only  a  pretext  [for  nullifi- 
cation] ,  and  Disunion  and  a  Southern  Confederacy 
the  real  object.  The  next  pretext  will  be  the 
negro  or  slavery  question. 

[From  a  Message,  December  6,  1836.] 

Variableness  must  ever  be  the  character 

of  a  currency  of  which  the  precious  metals  are  not 
the  chief  ingredient,  or  which  can  be  expanded  or 
contracted  without  regard  to  the  principles  that 
regulate  the  value  of  those  metals  as  a  standard  iii 
the  general  trade  of  the  world.  .  .  .  The  pro- 
gress of  an  expansion,  or  rather  a  depreciation  of 
the  currency,  by  excessive  bank  issues,  is  always 
attended  by  a  loss  to  the  laboring  classes.  This 
part  of  the  community  has  neither  time  nor  oppor- 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  185 

tunity  to  watch  the  ebbs  and  flows  of  the  money 
market.  Engaged  from  day  to  day  in  their  use- 
ful toils,  they  do  not  perceive  that  although  their 
wages  are  nominally  the  same,  or  even  somewhat 
higher,  they  are  greatly  reduced  in  fact  by  the 
rapid  increase  of  a  spurious  currency,  which,  as  it 
appears  to  make  money  abound,  they  are  at  first 
inclined  to  consider  a  blessing. 

To  a  Major  Lewis,  of  Kentucky,  who  rather 
pompously  said  to  General  Jackson,  "  Well,  Gen- 
eral, I  have  all  my  life  been  voting  against  you," 
he  replied,  "  Well,  Major,  I  have  all  my  life  been 
fighting  the  battles  of  my  country  in  order  that 
you  might  enjoy  that  privilege." — Nashville  Ban- 
ner, 1880. 


186  CHIPS   FROM  THE   WHITE   HOUSE. 


MARTIN  VAN  BUREN. 

BORN,  1782;  DIED,  1862,  AGED  80.  —  SURROGATE  OF  COLUMBIA 
COUNTY,  N.  Y.,  1808.  — STATE  SENATOR,  1812.— MEMBER  OF 
THE  CONVENTION  TO  REVISE  THE  NEW  YORK  STATE 
CONSTITUTION,  1821.  —  UNITED  STATES  SENATOR,  1827.  — 
GOVERNOR  OF  NEW  YORK,  1828.  —  SECRETARY  OF  STATE,  1829. 
—MINISTER  TO  ENGLAND,  1831.  — VICE-PRESIDENT,  1832-1836. 
—  PRESIDENT,  1837-1841. 

[From  an  Address,  1819.] 

THE  struggle  which  gave  birth  to  our  nation 
must  ever  be  regarded  as  one  of  the  most  impor- 
tant and  interesting  eras  the  world  has  ever  wit- 
nessed. History  records  no  event  which  called 
into  action  a  race  of  statesmen  equal  in  all  the 
splendid  virtues  which  adorn  and  give  celebrity  to 
the  human  character.  And  it  is  a  fact  honorable 
to  our  nation,  that  of  the  long-list  of  patriots  and 
sages  who,  at  the  hazard  of  all  that  was  dear  to 
man,  signed  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  and 
of  those  who  framed  the  grand  charter  of  our  lib- 
erties, there  has  not  been  one  who,  in  after  life, 
has  fallen  from  the  eminence  to  which,  by  his  con- 
nection with  those  events,  he  was  raised,  or  has 
in  the  least  impaired  the  character  he  thus  ac- 
quired. Those  whom  the  ravages  of  time  have  yet 


MARTIN   VAN   BUREN.  187 

spared  to  their  country  are  everywhere  honored 
and  respected;  and  those  whose  deaths  we  de- 
plore, who  are  now  numbered  with  "  the  spirits  of 
just  men  made  perfect,"  have  descended  to  the 
tomb  accompanied  by  a  nation's  tears,  and  blessed 
with  a  nation's  gratitude. 

[From  a  Speech  in  the  Convention  for  revising  the  Consti- 
tution of  New  York,  1821,  in  favor  of  a  proposition  to 
vest  in  the  Governor  a  revisory  power  upon  the  acts  of 
the  legislature.] 

Distinct  branches  are  not  only  necessary 

to  the  existence  of  government,  but  when  you 
have  prescribed  them,  it  is  necessary  that  you 
should  make  them,  in  a  great  degree,  independent 
of  each  other.  No  government  can  be  so  favored 
as  to  make  them  entirely  separate ;  but  it  has 
been  the  study  of  the  wisest  and  best  men  to  in- 
vent a  plan  by  which  they  might  be  rendered  as 
independent  of  each  other  as  the  nature  of  govern- 
ment would  admit.  The  legislative  department  is 
by  far  the  strongest,  and  is  constantly  inclined  to 
encroach  upon  the  weaker  branches  of  govern- 
ment, and  upon  individual  rights.  This  arises 
from,  a  variety  of  causes.  In  the  first  place,  the 
powers  of  that  department  are  more  extended  and 
indefinable  than  those  of  any  other,  which  gives 
its  members  an  exalted  idea  of  their  superiority. 
They  are  the  representatives  of  the  people,  from 


188  CHIPS   FROM   THE   WHITE   HOUSE. 

which  circumstance  they  think  they  possess,  and 
of  right  ought  to  possess,  all  the  power  of  the  peo- 
ple. This  is  natural,  and  it  is  easy  to  imagine  the 
consequences  that  necessarily  follow. 

This  is  not  all.  They  hold  the  purse-strings  of 
the  state ;  and  every  member  of  all  the  branches 
of  the  government  is  dependent  on  them  for  his 
subsistence.  You  have  been  told,  and  correctly 
told,  that  those  who  feed  men,  and  enjoy  the  priv- 
ilege of  dispensing  the  public  bounty,  will,  in  a 
greater  or  less  degree,  influence  and  control  them. 
Is  it  unreasonable  or  improbable  to  suppose  that 
power,  thus  constituted,  should  have  a  tendency 
to  exert  itself  for  purposes  not  congenial  with  the 
true  interests  of  the  other  branches  of  government  ? 
.  .  .  Such  is  the  superior  force  and  influence  of 
legislative  power;  such  is  the  reverence  and  re- 
gard with  which  it  is  looked  up  to,  that  no  man  in 
the  community  will  have  the  temerity,  on  ordinary 
occasions,  to  resist  its  acts  or  check  its  proceed- 
ings. I  cannot  illustrate  this  position  more 
strongly  than  by  a  reference  to  the  constitution  of 
England.  There  the  executive  is  a  branch  of  the 
legislature,  and  has  an  absolute  negative.  Sur- 
rounded as  he  is  with  prerogative,  and  placed  far 
beyond  the  reach  of  the  people,  yet  since  the  year 
1692  no  objection  has  been  made  by  the  king  of 
Great  Britain  to  any  bill  presented  for  his  ap- 
proval. Rather  than  produce  the  excitement  and 


MARTIN   VAN  BUREN.  189 

irritation  which,  even  there,  would  result  from  the 
rejection  of  a  bill  passed  by  the  Parliament,  he  has 
resorted  to  means  which  have  degraded  the  gov- 
ernment and  dishonored  the  nation,  to  prevent  the 
passage  of  bills  which  he  should  feel  it  his  duty  to 
reject.  In  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  in 
the  category  of  wrongs  under  which  our  fathers 
had  been  suffering,  one  of  the  most  prominent 
wTas,  that  the  king  had  exercised  his  prerogative, 
and  had  refused  his  sanction  to  salutary  laws. 
Gentlemen  may,  therefore,  rest  satisfied  that  very 
little  danger  is  to  be  apprehended  on  this  subject. 

[From  "  Political  Parties  in  the  United  States."] 

John  Adams  was  in  every  sense  a  remarkable 
man.  Nature  seems  to  have  employed  in  his  con- 
struction intellectual  materials  sufficient  to  have 
furnished  many  minds  respectably.  It  would  not 
be  easy  to  name  men  either  of  his  day  or  of  any 
period,  whose  character  presents  a  deeper  or  a 
stronger  soil,  one  which  duringjrjs  long-  grid  some- 
what boisterous  public  life  was  thoroughly  probed 
by  his  enemies  without  disclosing  any  variation  in 
its  depths  from  the  qualities  and  indications  of  its 
surface.  Still  more  deeply  was  it  turned  up  and 
exposed  to  light  by  himself  with  the  same  result. 
His  writings,  which  have  been  more  extensive  and 
more  varied  than  those  of  any  of  his  contempo- 
raries, have  been  given  to  the  world  apparently 


190  CHIPS  FROM   THE   WHITE   HOUSE. 

without  reserve.  These,  with  his  diaries  and  auto- 
biography have  turned  his  character  inside  out, 
and  shown  us,  without  disguise  of  any  sort,  the 
kind  of  man  he  was ;  and  the  representation  is  in- 
variably that  of  the  same  "always  honest  man" 
that  he  was  three  quarters  of  a  century  ago  when 
that  high  praise  was  accorded  to  him  by  his  not  too 
particular  .  friend  Benjamin  Franklin,  in  a  com- 
munication not  designed  to  be  over  civil.  .  .  . 
Mr.  Jefferson,  but  two  years  before  the  death  of 
both  of  them,  on  referring  to  that  [the  revolution- 
ary] period,  and  to  Mr.  Adams'  great  services,  in 
my  presence,  was  warmed  by  the  subject,  and 
spoke  of  him  as  having  been  the  mainmast  of  the 
ship — the  orator  of  the  Revolution,  etc. 

[From  the  Same.] 

Mr.  Jefferson  commenced  the  discharge 

of  his  official  duties  by  an  act  which,  though  one 
of  form,  involved  matter  of  the  highest  moment. 
I  allude  to  the  decision  and  facility  with  whicji,  in 
his  intercourse  with  other  branches  of  the  govern- 
ment, he  suppressed  the  observance  of  empty 
ceremonies  which  had  been  borrowed  from  foreign 
courts  by  officials  who  took  an  interest  in  such 
matters,  and  were  reluctantly  tolerated  by  Wash- 
ington, who  was  himself  above  them.  Instead  of 
proceeding  in  state  to  the  capitol  to  deliver  a 
speech  to  the  legislature,  according  to  the  custom 


MARTIN  VAN  BUREN.  191 

of  monarchs,  he  performed  his  constitutional  duty 
by  means  of  a  message  in  writing,  sent  to  each 
House  by  the  hands  of  his  private  secretary,  and 
they  performed  theirs  by  a  reference  of  its  con- 
tents to  appropriate  committees.  The  executive 
procession,  instead  of  marking  the  intercourse  be- 
tween the  different  branches  of  the  government, 
was  reserved  for  the  Inauguration,  when  the  Presi- 
dent appeared  before  the  people  themselves,  and  in 
their  presence  took  the  oath  of  office. 

[From  his  Reply  to  the  Committee  of  the  Convention  which 
nominated  him  for  the  Presidency.] 

We  hold  an  immense  stake  for  the  weal 

or  woe  of  mankind,  to  the  importance  of  which  we 
should  not  be  insensible.  The  intense  .interest 
manifested  abroad  in  every  movement  here  that 
threatens  the  stability  of  our  system,  shows  the 
deep  conviction  which  pervades  the  world  that 
upon  its  fate  depends  the  cause  of  republican  gov- 
ernment. The  advocates  of  monarchical  systems 
have  not  been  slow  in  perceiving  danger  to  such 
institutions  in  the  permanency  of  our  Constitution, 
nor  backward  in  seizing  upon  every  passing  event 
by  which  their  predictions  of  its  speedy  destruc- 
tion could  be  in  any  degree  justified.  Thus  far 
they  have  been  disappointed  in  their  expectations, 
and  the  circumstances  by  which  they  were  encour- 
aged, however  alarming  at  the  tune,  have  in  the 


192  CHIPS  FROM  THE  WHITE  HOUSE. 

end  only  tended  to  show  forth  the  depth  of  that 
devotion  to  the  Union  which  is  yet,  thank  God, 
the  master  passion  of  the  American  bosom. 

[From  a  Message  to  Congress,  September  5,  1837.] 

It  has  since  appeared  that  evils  similar 

to  those  suffered  by  ourselves,  have  been  expe- 
rienced in  Great  Britain,  on  the  Continent,  and  in- 
deed throughout  the  commercial  world,  and  that 
in  other  countries  as  well  as  in  our  own,  they  have 
been  uniformly  preceded  by  an  undue  enlargement 
of  the  boundaries  of  trade,  prompted,  as  with  us, 
by  unprecedented  expansions  of  the  systems  of 
credit.  A  reference  to  the  amount  of  banking 
capacity  and  the  issues  of  paper  credits  put  in  cir- 
culation in  Great  Britain  by  banks  and  in  other 
ways,  during  the  years  1834,  1835,  and  1836,  will 
show  an  augmentation  of  the  paper  currency  there, 
as  much  disproportioned  to  the  real  wants  of  trade 
as  in  the  United  States.  With  this  redundance  in 
the  paper  currency,  there  arose  in  that  country 
also  a  spirit  of  adventurous  speculation  embracing 
the  whole  range  of  human  enterprise.  Aid  was 
profusely  given  to  projected  improvements  ;  large 
investments  made  in  foreign  stocks  and  loans ; 
credits  for  goods  were  granted  with  unbounded 
liberality  to  merchants  in  foreign  countries ;  and 
all  the  means  of  acquiring  and  employing  credit 
were  put  in  active  operation,  and  extended,  in 
their  effects,  to  every  department  of  business,  and 


MARTIN  VAN  BUEEN.  193 

to  every  quarter  of  the  globe.  The  reaction  was 
proportioned  in  its  violence  to  the  extensive  char- 
acter of  the  events  which  preceded  it. 

....  In  view  of  these  facts,  it  would  seem 
impossible  for  sincere  inquirers  after  truth  to 
resist  the  conviction,  that  the  causes  of  the  revul- 
sion in  both  countries  have  been  substantially  the 
same.  Two  nations,  the  most  commercial  in  the 
world,  enjoying  but  recently  the  highest  degree  of 
apparent  prosperity,  and  maintaining  with  each 
other  the  closest  relations,  are  suddenly,  in  a  time 
of  profound  peace,  and  without  any  great  national 
disaster,  arrested  in  their  career,  and  plunged  into  a 
state  of  embarrassment  and  distress.  In  both  coun- 
tries we  have  witnessed  the  same  redundancy  of 
paper  money,  and  other  facilities  of  credit ;  the  same 
spirit  of  speculation,  the  same  partial  successes ; 
the  same  difficulties  and  reverses ;  and  at  length 
nearly  the  same  overwhelming  catastrophe 

All  communities  are  apt  to  look  to  government 
for  too  much.  Even  in  our  own  country,  where 
its  powers  and  duties  are  so  strictly  limited, 
we  are  prone  to  do  so,  especially  at  periods  of 
sudden  embarrassment  and  distress.  But  this 
ought  not  to  be.  The  framers  of  our  excellent 
Constitution,  and  the  people  who  approved  it, 
with  calm  and  sagacious  deliberation,  acted  at  the 
time  on  a  sounder  principle.  They  wisely  judged 
that  the  less  government  interferes  with  private 


13 


194  CHIPS    FROM   THE   WHITE    HOUSE. 

pursuits,  the  better  for  the  general  prosperity. 
It  is  not  its  legitimate  object  to  make  men  rich,  or 
to  repair,  by  direct  grants  of  money  or  legislation 
in  favor  of  particular  pursuits,  losses  not  incurred 
in  the  public  service.  This  would  be  substantially, 
to  use  the  property  of  some  for  the  benefit  of 
others.  But  its  real  duty,  that  duty,  the  perform- 
ance of  which  makes  a  good  government  the  most 
precious  of  human  blessings,  is  to  enact  and  en- 
force a  system  of  general  taxes  commensurate  with, 
but  not  exceeding,  the  objects  of  its  establishment, 
and  to  leave  every  citizen  and  every  interest  to 
reap,  under  its  benign  protection,  the  rewards  of 

virtue,  industry,  and  prudence 

The  great  agricultural  interest  has,  in  many 
parts  of  the  country,  suffered  comparatively  little ; 
and,  as  if  Providence  intended  to  display  the  mu- 
nificence of  its  goodness  at  the  moment  of  our 
greatest  need,  and  in  direct  contrast  to  the  evils 
occasioned  by  the  waywardness  of  man,  we  have 
been  blessed,  throughout  our  extended  territory, 
with  a  season  of  general  health  and  of  uncommon 
fruitfulncss. 


It  is  a  high  gratification  to  know  that  we  act  for 
a  people  to  whom  the  truth,  however  unpromising, 
can  always  be  spoken  with  safety,  for  the  trial  of 
whose  patience  no  emergency  is  too  severe,  and 
who  are  sure  never  to  despise  a  public  functionary 
honestly  laboring  for  the  public  good. 


WILLIAM  HENRY  HARRISON.  195 


WILLIAM  HENRY  HARRISON. 

BORN,  1T73 ;  DIED,  1841,  AGED  68.  —  CAPTAIN  IN  THE  ARMY, 
1795.  — SECRETARY  OF  THE  TERRITORY  NORTH-WEST  OF 
THE  OHIO,  1797.  — DELEGATE  TO  CONGRESS,  1790.  —  GOVERN- 
OR OF  THE  TERRITORY  OF  INDIANA,  1801.— ENGAGED  IN 
THE  BATTLE  OF  TIPPECANOE,  1811.  — BRIGADIER-GENERAL 
AND  COMMANDER  OF  THE  NORTH-WEST  FRONTIER,  1812.— 
MAJOR-GENERAL,  1813.  — COMMANDER  IN  THE  BATTLE  OF 
THE  THAMES,  1813.  —  REPRESENTATIVE  TO  CONGRESS,  1816. 
—IN  THE  STATE  SENATE  OF  OHIO,  1819.  — IN  THE  UNITED 
STATES  SENATE,  1821.— MINISTER  TO  COLOMBIA,  1828.— 
PRESIDENT,  1841. 

[From  an  Address,  when  Governor  and  Commander-in-chief 
of  the  territory  of  Indiana,  to  the  Legislative  Council 
and  House  of  Representatives,  1805.] 

AN   enlightened   and   generous  policy 

has  forever  removed  all  cause  of  contention  with 
our  western  neighbors  [by  the  acquisition  of  Lou- 
isiana in  1803].  The  mighty  river  which  sepa- 
rates us  from  the  Louisianians  will  never  be  stained 
with  the  blood  of  contending  nations,  but  will 
prove  the  bond  of  our  Union,  and  will  convey 
upon  its  bosom,  in  a  course  of  many  thousand 
miles,  the  produce  of  our  great  and  united  em- 
pire  


196  CHIPS   FROM   THE   WHITE    HOUSE. 

The  interests  of  your  constituents,  the  interests 
of  the  miserable  Indians,  and  your  own  feelings, 
will  sufficiently  urge  to  take  it  into  your  most 
serious  consideration,  and  provide  the  remedy 
which  is  to  save  thousands  of  our  fellow-crea- 
tures. ...  So  destructive  has  the  progress  of 
intemperance  been  among  them,  that  whole  vil- 
lages have  been  swept  away.  A  miserable  remnant 
is  all  that  remains  to  mark  the  names  and  situation 
of  many  numerous  and  warlike  tribes.  In  the 
energetic  language  of  one  of  their  orators,  it  is  a 
dreadful  conflagration,  which  spreads  misery  and 
desolation  through  their  country,  and  threatens 
the  annihilation  of  the  whole  race. 

Is  it  then  to  be  admitted  as  a  political  axiom, 
that  the  neighborhood  of  a  civilized  nation  is  in- 
compatible with  the  existence  of  savages?  Are 
the  blessings  of  our  republican  government  only 
to  be  felt  by  ourselves  ?  And  are  the  nations  of 
North  America  to  experience  the  same  fate  with 
their  brethren  of  the  Southern  Continent?  It  is 
with  you,  gentlemen,  to  divert  from  those  children 
of  nature  the  ruin  which  hangs  over  them.  Nor 
can  I  believe  that  the  time  will  be  considered  as 
misspent  which  is  devoted  to  an  object  so  consist- 
ent with  the  spirit  of  Christianity  and  with  the 
principles  of  republicanism. 


WILLIAM  HENRY  HARRISON.  197 

[To  the  Legislature  of  the  territory  of  Indiana,  1807.] 

The  propriety  and  policy  of  a  law  of  this 

kind  [authorizing  the  general  and  circuit  courts  to 
grant  divorces]  has  been  strongly  contested  in 
many  parts  of  the  United  States ;  and  it  is  be- 
lieved that  the  principle  has  been  everywhere  con- 
demned, save  in  one  or  two  States  only.  It  can- 
not be  denied  that  the  success  of  one  applicant  for 
a  divorce  has  always  the  effect  of  producing  others, 
and  that  the  advantages  which  a  few  individuals 
may  derive  from  a  dissolution  of  this  solemn  con- 
tract, are  too  dearly  purchased  by  its  injurious 
effects  upon  the  morals  of  the  community.  The 
scenes  which  are  frequently  exhibited  in  trials  of 
this  kind  are  shocking  to  humanity.  The  ties  of 
consanguinity  and  nature  are  loosened  —  the  child 
is  brought  to  give  testimony  against  his  parent  — 
confidence  and  affection  are  destroyed  —  family 
secrets  disclosed  —  and  human  nature  is  exhibited 
in  the  worst  colors. 

[From  a  letter  dated  Headquarters,  Detroit,  9  October, 
1813,  giving  an  account  of  the  victory  of  the  American 
troops  over  the  combined  Indian  and  British  forces  under 
General  Proctor.] 

Whilst  I  was  engaged  in  forming  the  in- 
fantry, I  had  directed  Colonel  Johnson's  *  regiment, 

*  Richard  M.  Johnson. 


198  CHIPS   FROM   THE   WHITE   HOUSE. 

which  was  still  in  front,  to  be  formed  in  two  lines, 
opposite  to  the  enemy,  and,  upon  the  advance  of 
the  infantry,  to  take  ground  to  the  left,  and  form- 
ing upon  that  flank,  to  endeavor  to  turn  the  right 
of  the  Indians.  A  moment's  reflection,  however, 
convinced  me  that  from  the  thickness  of  the  woods 
and  swampiness  of  the  ground,  they  Avould  be  un- 
able to  do  anything  on  horseback ;  and  there  was 
no  time  to  dismount  them  and  place  their  horses 
in  security ;  I  therefore  determined  to  refuse  my 
left  to  the  Indians,  and  to  break  the  British  lines 
at  once  by  a  charge  of  the  mounted  infantry.  The 
measure  was  not  sanctioned  by  anything  I  had 
seen  or  heard  of,  but  I  was  fully  convinced  that 
it  would  succeed.  The  American  back  woodsmen 
ride  better  in  the  woods  than  any  other  people. 
A  musket  or  rifle  is  no  impediment  to  them,  being 
accustomed  to  carry  them  on  horseback  from  their 
earliest  youth.  I  was  persuaded,  too,  that  the 
enemy  would  be  quite  unprepared  for  the  shock, 
and  that  they  could  not  resist  it.  Conformably  to 
this  idea,  I  directed  the  regiment  to  be  drawn  up 
in  close  column,  with  its  right  at  the  distance  of 
fifty  yards  from  the  road  (that  it  might  be  in  some 
measure  protected  by  the  trees  from  the  artillery), 
its  left  upon  the  swamp,  and  to  charge  at  full 
speed  as  soon  as  the  enemy  delivered  their  fire. 
The  few  regular  troops  of  the  27th  regiment, 
under  their  colonel  (Paul),  occupied,  in  column 


WILLIAM   HENRY   HARRISON.  199 

of  sections  of  four,  the  small  space  between  the 
road  and  the  river,  for  the  purpose  of  seizing  the 
enemy's  artillery,  and  some  ten  or  twelve  friendly 
Indians  were  directed  to  move  under  the  bank. 
The  crotchet  formed  by  the  front  line  and  General 
Desha's  division  was  an  important  point.  At  that 
place  the  venerable  governor  of  Kentucky  (Shelby) 
was  posted,  who,  at  the  age  of  sixty-six,  preserved 
all  the  vigor  of  youth,  the  ardent  zeal  which  dis- 
tinguished him  in  the  Revolutionary  war,  and  the 
undaunted  bravery  which  he  manifested  at  King's 
Mountain.*  With  my  aid-de-camp,  the  acting 
assistant  adjutant-general,  Captain  Butler,  my  gal- 
lant friend,  Commodore  Perry,  who  did  me  the. 
honor  to  serve  as  my  volunteer  aid-dc-camp,  and 
Brigadier-General  Cass,  f  who ,  having  no  command , 
tendered  me  his  assistance,  I  placed  myself  at  the. 
head  of  the  front  line  of  infantry,  to  direct  the 
movements  of  the  cavalry,  and  give  them  the 
necessary  support.  The  army  had  moved  on  in 
this  manner  but  a  short  distance,  when  the 
mounted  men  received  the  fire  of  the  British  line, 
and  were  ordered  to  charge ;  the  horses  in  the 
front  of  the  column  recoiled  from  the  fire ;  an- 
other was  given  by  the  enemy,  and  our  column  at 
length  getting  in  motion,  broke  through  the  enemy 
with  irresistible  force.  In  one  minute  the  contest 

*  In  North  Carolina,  October  9,  1780. 
f  Lewis  Cass. 


200  CHIPS   FEOM   THE    WHITE    HOUSE. 

in  front  was  over ;  the  British  officers,  seeing  no 
hopes  of  reducing  their  disordered  ranks  to  order, 
and  our  mounted  men  wheeling  upon  them,  and 
pouring  in  a  destructive  fire,  immediately  surren- 
dered. It  is  certain  that  three  only  of  our  troops 
were  wounded  in  this  charge.  Upon  the  left, 
however,  the  contest  was  more  severe  with  the 
Indians.  Colonel  Johnson,  who  commanded  on 
the  flank  of  his  regiment,  received  a  most  galling 
fire  from  them,  which  was  returned  with  great 
effect.  The  Indians  still  farther  to  the  right  ad- 
vanced, and  fell  in  with  our  front  line  of  infantry, 
near  its  junction  with  Desha's  division,  and  for  a 
moment  made  an  impression  upon  it.  His  excel- 
lency Governor  Shelby,  however,  brought  up  a 
regiment  to  its  support,  and  the  enemy,  receiving 
a  severe  fire  in  front,  and  a  part  of  Johnson's 
regiment  having  gained  their  rear,  retreated  with 
precipitation.  The  loss  was  very  considerable 
in  the  action,  and  many  were  killed  in  the  re- 
treat.* 

[From  his  Inaugural  Address,  1841.] 

The  spirit  of  liberty  is  the  sovereign  balm 

for  every  injury  which  our  institutions  may  re- 
ceive. On  the  contrary,  no  care  that  can  be  used 
in  the  construction  of  our  government,  no  division 
of  powers,  no  distribution  of  checks  in  its  several 

*  Tecumseh  was  killed  in  this  battle. 


WILLIAM  HENRY  HARRISON.  201 

departments,  will  prove  effectual  to  keep  us  a  free 
people,  if  this  spirit  is  suffered  to  decay,  and  de- 
cay it  will  without  constant  nurture.  .  .  .  And 
although  there  is  at  times  much  difficulty  in  dis- 
tinguishing the  false  from  the  true  spirit,  a  calm 
and  dispassionate  investigation  will  detect  the 
counterfeit,  as  well  by  the  character  of  its  ope- 
rations as  the  results  that  are  produced.  The  true 
spirit  of  liberty,  although  devoted,  persevering, 
bold,  and  -uncompromising  in  principle ;  that  se- 
cured, is  mild,  and  tolerant,  and  scrupulous  as  to 
the  means  it  employs ;  whilst  the  spirit  of  party, 
assuming  to  be  that  of  liberty,  is  harsh,  vindictive, 
and  intolerant,  and  totally  reckless  as  to  the  charac- 
ter of  the  allies  which  it  brings  to  the  aid  of  its 
cause. 


202  CHIPS  FROM  THE   WHITE   HOUSE. 


JOHN  TYLER. 

BORN,  1790;  DIED,  1862,  AGED  72.  —  GRADUATED  AT  WILLIAM 
AND  MARY  COLLEGE,  1807.  — BEGAN  PRACTICE  OF  LAW, 
1809. —  IN  LEGISLATURE  OF  VIRGINIA,  1811.  —  CONGRESS, 
181G.  —  STATE  LEGISLATURE,  1823.  —  GOVERNOR  OF  VIRGINIA, 
1825.  — UNITED  STATES  SENATOR,  1827.— IN  THE  STATE  LEG- 
ISLATURE, 1838.— VICE-PRESIDENT,  1841.  —  PRESIDENT,  1841. 

[From  an  Address  as  President  of  the  Senate,  March,  1841.] 

HERE  are  to  be  found  the  immediate 

Representatives  of  the  States,  by  whose  sovereign 
will  the  government  has  been  spoken  into  exist- 
ence. Here  exists  that  perfect  equality  among  the 
members  of  this  confederacy,  which  gives  to  the 
smallest  State  in  the  Union  a  voice  as  potential  as 
that  of  the  largest.  To  this  body  is  committed, 
in  an  eminent  degree,  the  trust  of  guarding  and 
protecting  the  institutions  handed  down  to  us  from 
our  fathers,  as  well  against  the  waves  of  popular 
and  rash  impulses  on  the  one  hand,  as  against  at- 
tempts at  executive  encroachment  on  the  other. 
It  may  properly  be  regarded  as  holding  the  balance 
in  which  is  weighed  the  powers  conceded  to  this 
government,  and  the  rights  reserved  to  the  States 
and  to  the  people.  It  is  its  province  to  concede 


JOHN    TYLER.  203 

what  has  been  granted  —  to  withhold  what  has 
been  denied ;  thus,  in  all  its  features,  exhibiting 
a  true  type  of  the  glorious  confederacy  under 
which  it  is  our  happiness  to  live.  Should  the 
spirit  of  faction,  that  destructive  spirit  which  reck- 
lessly walks  over  prostrate  rights,  and  tramples 
laws  and  constitutions  in  the  dust,  ever  find  an 
abiding  place  within  this  hall,  then,  indeed,  will  a 
sentence  of  condemnation  be  issued  against  the 
peace  and  happiness  of  this  people,  and  their 
political  institutions  be  made  to  topple  to  their 
foundations.  But  while  this  body  shall  continue 
to  be  what  by  its  framers  it  was  designed  to  be, 
deliberative  in  its  character,  unbiassed  in  its  coun- 
sel, and  independent  in  its  action,  then  may  liberty 
be  regarded  as  intrenched  in  safety  bchmd  the 
sacred  ramparts  of  the  Constitution. 

[From  a  Message  to  Congress,  June  1,  1841.] 

I  must  be  permitted  to  add,  that  no 

scheme  of  governmental  policy,  unaided  by  indi- 
vidual exertions,  can  be  available  for  ameliorating 
the  present  condition  of  things,  Commercial 
modes  of  exchange,  and  a  good  currency  ai*e  but 
the  necessary  means  of  commerce  and  intercourse, 
not  the  direct  productive  sources  of  wealth. 
Wealth  can  only  be  accumulated  by  the  earnings 
of  industry  and  the  savings  of  frugality,  and 
nothing  can  be  more  ill-judged  than  to  look  to 


204  CHIPS  FROM  THE   WHITE   HOUSE. 

facilities  in  borrowing,  or  to  a  redundant  currency, 
for  the  power  of  discharging  pecuniary  obligations. 
The  country  is  full  of  resources,  and  the  people 
full  of  energy ;  and  the  great  and  permanent  rem- 
edy for  present  embarrassments  must  be  sought  in 
industry,  economy,  the  observance  of  good  faith, 
and  the  favorable  influence  of  time. 


JAMES   K.    POLK.  205 


JAMES  K.  POLK. 

BORN,  1795;  DIED,  1849,  AGED  54.  —  GRADUATED  AT  THE  UNI- 
VERSITY OF  NORTH  CAROLINA,  1818.— ADMITTED  TO  THE 
BAR,  1820.— IN  THE  TENNESSEE  STATE  LEGISLATURE,  1823. 
—ELECTED  TO  CONGRESS,  1825.  —  SPEAKER  OF  THE  HOUSE 
OF  REPRESENTATIVES,  1835.— GOVERNOR  OF  TENNESSEE, 
1839.  — PRESIDENT,  1845-1849. 

[From  his  Inaugural  Address,  March,  1845.] 

"  WHO  shall  assign  limits  to  the  achieve- 
ments of  free  minds  and  free  hands,  under  the 
protection  of  the  glorious  Union  ?  No  treason  to 
mankind,  since  the  organization  of  society,  would 
be  equal  in  atrocity  to  that  of  him  who  would  lift 
his  hand  to  destroy  it.  He  would  overthrow  the 
noblest  structure  of  human  wisdom,  which  pro- 
tects himself  and  his  fellow-men.  He  would  stop 
the  progress  of  free  government,  and  involve  his 
country  either  in  anarchy  or  destruction. 

Has  the  sword  of  despots  proved  to  be  a  safer 
"or  surer  instrument  of  reform  in  government  than 
enlightened  reason?  Does  he  expect  to  lind 
among  the  ruins  of  this  Union  a  happier  abode  for 
our  swarming  millions  than  they  now  have  under 
it?  Every  lover  of  his  country  must  shudder  at 


206  CHIPS  FROM   THE   WHITE   HOUSE. 

the  thought  of  the  possibility  of  its  dissolution, 
and  will  be  ready  to  adopt  the  political  sentiment : 
Our  Federal  Union ;  it  must  be  preserved. 

Nor  will  it  become  in  a  less  degree  my  duty  to 
assert  and  maintain,  by  all  consistent  means,  the 
right  of  the  United  States  to  that  part  of  our  terri- 
tory which  lies  beyond  the  Rocky  Mountains. 
Our  title  to  the  country  of  the  Oregon  is  clear  and 
unquestionable,  and  already  are  our  people  pre- 
paring to  perfect  that  title,  by  occupying  it  with 
their  wives  and  children.  But  eighty  years  ago 
our  population  was  confined  on  the  west  by  the 
ridge  of  the  Alleghanies.  Within  that  period  — 
within  the  lifetime,  I  may  say,  of  some  of  my 
hearers  —  our  people,  increasing  to  many  mil- 
lions, have  filled  the  eastern  valley  of  the  Missis- 
sippi, adventurously  ascended  the  Mississippi  to 
its  head  springs,  and  are  already  engaged  in  estab- 
lishing the  blessings  of  self-government  in  valleys 
of  which  the  rivers  flow  to  the  Pacific.  The  world 
beholds  the  peaceful  triumphs  of  the  industry  of 
our  emigrants.  To  us  belongs  the  duty  of  pro- 
tecting them  adequately,  wherever  they  may  be 
upon  our  soil.  The  jurisdiction  of  our  laws,  and 
the  benefits  of  our  republican  institutions,  should 
be  extended  over  them  in  the  distant  regions 
which  they  liave  selected  for  their  homes. 


JAMES   K.    POLK.  207 


[From  his  first  annual  Message,  December,  1845.] 

It  is  well  known   to  the   American 

people,  and  to  all  nations,  that  this  government 
has  never  interfered  with  the  relations  subsisting 
between  other  governments.  We  have  never 
made  ourselves  parties  to  their  wars  or  their  alli- 
ances ;  we  have  not  sought  their  territories  by 
conquest;  we  have  not  mingled  with  parties  in 
their  domestic  struggles ;  and  believing  our  own 
form  of  government  to  be  the  best,  we  have  never 
attempted  to  propagate  it  by  intrigues,  by  diplo- 
macy, or  by  force.  We  may  claim  on  this  conti- 
nent a  like  exemption  from  European  interference. 
The  nations  of  America  are  equally  sovereign  and 
independent  with  those  of  Europe.  They  possess 
the  same  rights,  independent  of  all  foreign  inter- 
position, to  make  war,  to  conclude  peace,  and  to 
regulate  their  internal  affairs.  The  people  of  the 
United  States  cannot,  therefore,  view  with  indiffer- 
ence attempts  of  European  powers  to  interfere 
with  the  independent  action  of  the  nations  on  this 
continent.  The  American  system  of  government 
is  entirely  different  from  the  European.  Jealousy 
among  the  different  sovereigns  of  Europe  lest  any 
one  of  them  might  become  too  powerful  for  the 
rest  has  caused  them  anxiously  to  desire  the  estab- 
lishment of  what  they  term  the  "balance  of  power." 
It  cannot  be  permitted  to  have  any  application  on 


208  CHIPS   FROM   THE   WHITE   HOUSE. 

the  North  American  Continent,  and  especially  to 
the  United  States.  We  must  ever  maintain  the 
principle,  that  the  people  of  this  continent  alone 
have  the  right  to  decide  their  own  destin}7-.  Should 
any  portion  of  them,  constituting  an  independent 
state,  propose  to  unite  themselves  with  our  confed- 
eracy, this  will  be  a  question  for  them  and  us  to 
determine,  without  any  foreign  interposition. 

Nearly  a  quarter  of  a  century  ago  the  principle 
was  distinctly  announced  to  the  world  in  the  an- 
nual message  of  one  of  my  predecessors,  that  "  the 
American  continents,  by  the  free  and  independent 
condition  which  they  have  assumed  and  main- 
tained, are  henceforth  not  to  be  considered  as 
subjects  for  future  colonization  by  any  European 
powers."  This  principle  will  apply  with  greatly 
increased  force  should  any  European  power  at- 
tempt any  new  colony  in  North  America. 

[From  a  Message,  December,  1848.] 

Any  attempt  to  coerce  the  President  to 

yield  his  sanction  to  measures  which  he  cannot  ap- 
prove would  be  a  violation  of  the  spirit  of  the  con- 
stitution, palpable  and  flagrant ;  and  if  successful 
would  break  down  the  independence  of  the  execu- 
tive department,  and  make  the  President,  elected 
by  the  people,  and  clothed  by  the  constitution 
with  power  to  defend  their  rights,  the  mere  in- 


JAMES   K.    POLK.  209 

strument  of  a  majority  of  Congress.  A  surrender 
on  his  part  of  the  powers  with  which  the  constitu- 
tion has  invested  his  office  would  effect  a  practical 
alteration  of  that  instrument,  without  resorting  to 
the  prescribed  form  of  amendment. 

14 


210  CHIPS   FROM   THE   WHITE   HOUSE. 


ZACHARY    TAYLOE. 

BORN,  1T84;  DIED,  1850,  AGED  66.  — CAPTAIN  IN  THE  UNITED 
STATES  ARMY,  1810.— COLONEL,  1832.  — IN  THE  BLACK  HAWK 
WAR,  1832.  — BRIGADIER-GENERAL,  1837.  —  COMMANDER-IN- 
CHIEF  IN  FLORIDA,  1838.  — IN  THE  MEXICAN  WAR,  1846, 
1847.— PRESIDENT,  1849. 

[From  a  Message  to  Congress,  December  27,  1849.] 

As  indispensable  to  the  preservation  of 

our  system  of  self-government,  the  independence 
of  the  representatives  of  the  states  and  the  people 
is  guaranteed  by  the  constitution,  and  they  owe  no 
responsibility  to  any  human  power  but  their  con- 
stituents. By  holding  the  representative  respon- 
sible only  to  the  people,  and  exempting  him  from 
all  other  influences,  we  elevate  the  character  of  the 
constituents,  and  quicken  his  sense  of  responsi- 
bility to  his  country.  It  is  under  these  circum- 
stances only  that  the  elector  can  feel  that,  in  the 
choice  of  a  lawmaker,  ho  is  himself  truly  a  com- 
ponent part  of  the  sovereign  power  of  the  nation. 

With  equal  care  we  should  study  to  defend  the 
rights  of  the  executive  and  judicial  departments ; 
our  government  can  only  be  preserved  in  its  purity 
by  the  suppression  and  entire  elimination  of  every 


ZACHARY   TAYLOR."  211 

«• 

claim  or  tendency  of  one  co-ordinate  branch  to  en- 
croachment upon  another.  With  the  strict  observ- 
ance of  this  rule,  and  the  other  injunctions  of  the 
constitution ;  with  a  sedulous  inculcation  of  the 
respect  and  love  of  the  union  of  the  states,  which 
our  fathers  cherished  and  enjoined  upon  their  chil- 
dren ;  and  with  the  aid  of  the  overruling  Provi- 
dence which  has  so  long  and  so  kindly  guarded 
our  liberties  and  institutions,  we  may  reasonably 
expect  to  transmit  them,  with  their  innumerable 
blessings,  to  the  remotest  posterity. 

But  attachment  to  the  union  of  the  states  should 
be  habitually  fostered  in  every  American  heart. 
For  more  than  half  a  century,  during  which  king- 
doms and  empires  have  fallen,  this  Union  has 
stood  unshaken.  ...  In  my  judgment,  its  disso- 
lution would  be  the  greatest  of  calamities,  and  to 
avert  that  should  be  the  study  of  every  American. 
Upon  its  preservation  must  depend  our  own  happi- 
ness and  that  of  countless  generations  to  come. 
Whatever  dangers  may  threaten  it,  I  shall  stand 
by  it  and  maintain  it  in  its  integrity  to  the  full  ex- 
tent of  the  obligations  and  the  power  conferred 
upon  me  by  the  constitution. 


212  CHIPS   FROM   THE   WHITE   HOUSE. 


MTLLARD    FILLMOEE. 

BOKN,  1800;  DIED,  1874,  AGED  74.— BEGAN  PRACTICE  OF  LAW 
1823.— ELECTED  TO  THE  NEW  YOKK  LEGISLATURE,  1828.— 
TO  CONGRESS,  1832.— RE-ELECTED,  1836.— AGAIN,  1838  AND 
1840.—  CHAIRMAN  OF  COMMITTEE  ON  WAYS  AND  MEANS. 
—  NEW  YORK  STATE  COMPTROLLER,  1847.— VICE-PRESI- 
DENT, 1849.  — PRESIDENT,  JULY  10,  1850-1853. 

No  individuals  have  a  right  to  hazard 

the  peace  of  the  country,  or  to  violate  its  laws, 
upon  vague  notions  of  altering  or  reforming  gov- 
ernments in  other  states.  .  .  .  Friendly  relations 
with  all,  but  entangling  alliances  with  none,  has 
been  a  maxim  with  us.  Our  true  mission  is  not 
to  propagate  our  opinions,  or  impose  upon  other 
countries  our  form  of  government,  by  artifice  or 
force,  but  to  teach  by  example,  and  show  by  our 
success,  moderation,  and  justice,  the  blessings  of 
self-government  and  the  advantages  of  free  institu- 
tions. Let  every  people  choose  for  itself,  and 
make  and  alter  its  political  institutions  to  suit  its 
own  condition  and  convenience.  But  while  we 
avow  and  maintain  this  neutral  policy  ourselves,  we 
are  anxious  to  see  the  same  forbearance  on  the 
part  of  other  nations,  whose  forms  of  government 


MILLARD   FILLMORE.  213 

are  different  from  our  own.  The  deep  interest 
which  we  feel  in  the  spread  of  liberal  principles 
and  the  establishment  of  free  governments,  and 
the  sympathy  with  which  we  witness  every  strug- 
gle against  oppression,  forbid  that  we  should  be 
indifferent  to  a  case  in  which  the  strong  arm  of  a 
foreign  power  is  involved  to  stifle  public  senti- 
ment and  repress  the  spirit  of  freedom  in  any 
country. 

[From  a  Message,  December,  1850.] 

The    great    law    of  morality  ought   to 

have  a  national  as  well  as  a  personal  and  individual 
application.  We  should  act  toward  other  nations 
as  we  wish  them  to  act  toward  us  ;  and  justice  and 
conscience  should  form  the  rule  of  conduct  be- 
tween governments  instead  of  mere  power,  self- 
interest,  and  the  desire  of  aggrandizement.  To 
maintain  a  strict  neutrality  in  foreign  wars,  to  cul- 
tivate friendly  relations,  to  reciprocate  every 
noble  and  generous  act,  and  to  perform  punctually 
and  scrupulously  every  treaty  obligation ;  these 
are  the  duties  which  we  owe  to  other  states,  and 
by  the  performance  of  which  we  best  entitle  our- 
selves to  like  treatment  from  them ;  or  if,  in  any 
case  that  be  refused,  we  can  enforce  our  own  rights 
with  a  just  and  clear  conscience. 


214  CHIPS   FEOM  THE  WHITE   HOUSE. 

[From  a  Message,  December,  1862.] 

It  has  been  the  uniform  policy  of  this 

government,  from  its  foundation  to  the  present 
day,  to  abstain  from  all  interference  in  the  domes- 
tic affairs  of  other  nations.  The  consequence  has 
been  that  while  the  nations  of  Europe  have  been 
engaged  in  desolating  wars,  our  country  has  pur- 
sued its  peaceful  course  to  unexampled  prosperity 
and  happiness.  .  .  .  During  the  terrible  contest 
of  nation  against  nation  which  succeeded  the 
French  revolution,  we  were  enabled,  by  the  wis- 
dom and  firmness  of  President  Washington,  to 
maintain  our  neutrality.  While  the  nations  were 
drawn  into  this  wide-spreading  Avhirlpool,  we  sat 
quiet  and  unmoved  upon  our  own  shores.  While 
the  flower  of  their  numerous  armies  was  wasted 
by  disease,  or  perished  by  hundreds  of  thousands 
upon  the  battle-field,  the  youth  of  this  favored  land 
were  permitted  to  enjoy  the  blessings  of  peace  be- 
neath the  paternal  roof.  While  the  states  of 
Europe  incurred  enormous  debts,  under  the  bur- 
den of  which  their  subjects  still  groan,  and  which 
must  absorb  no  small  part  of  the  produce  of  the 
honest  industries  of  those  countries  for  generations 
to  come,  the  United  States  have  once  been  enabled 
to  exhibit  the  proud  spectacle  of  a  nation  free  from 
public  debt ;  and  if  permitted  to  pursue  our  pros- 
perous way  for  a  few  years  longer  in  peace,  we 
may  do  the  same  again. 


MILLAED   FILLMOEE.  215 

But  it  is  now  said  that  this  policy  must  be 
changed.  Europe  is  no  longer  separated  from  us 
by  a  voyage  of  months,  but  steam  navigation  has 
brought  her  within  a  few  days'  sail  of  our  shores. 
We  see  more  of  her  movements,  and  take  a  deep 
interest  in  her  controversies.  Although  no  one 
proposes  that  we  should  join  the  fraternity  of  po- 
tentates who  have  for  ages  lavished  the  blood  and 
treasure  of  their  subjects  in  maintaining  "  the  bal- 
ance of  power,"  yet  it  is  said  that  we  ought  to 
interfere  between  contending  governments  and 
their  subjects,  for  the  purpose  of  overthrowing  the 
monarchies  of  Europe,  and  establishing  in  their 
place  republican  institutions.  It  is  alleged  that 
we  have  hitherto  pursued  a  different  course  from  a 
sense  of  our  weakness,  but  that  now  our  conscious 
strength  dictates  a  change  of  policy,  and  that  it  is 
consequently  our  duty  to  mingle  in  these  contro- 
versies, and  aid  those  who  are  struggling  for 
liberty. 

This  is  a  most  seductive  but  dangerous  appeal 
to  the  generous  sympathies  of  freemen.  Enjoying, 
as  we  do,  the  blessings  of  a  free  government,  there 
is  no  man  who  has  an  American  heart  that  would 
not  rejoice  to  'see  these  blessings  extended  to  all 
other  nations.  .  .  .  Nevertheless,  is  it  prudence, 
or  is  it  wisdom  to  involve  ourselves  in  these  foreign 
wars?  Is  it  indeed  true  that  we  have  heretofore 
refrained  from  doing  so  merely  from  the  degrading 


216  CHIPS   FROM   THE    WHITE   HOUSE. 

motive  of  a  conscious  weakness?  For  the  honor 
of  the  patriots  who  have  gone  before,  I  cannot  ad- 
mit it.  ...  The  truth  is,  that  the  course  which 
they  pursued  was  dictated  by  a  stern  sense  of  inter- 
national justice,  by  a  statesman-like  prudence,  and 
a  far-seeing  wisdom,  looking  not  merely  to  the 
present  necessities,  but  to  the  permanent  safety 
and  interest  of  the  country.  They  knew  that  the 
world  is  governed  less  by  sympathy  than  by  reason 
and  force  ;  that  it  was  not  possible  for  this  nation 
to  become  a  "propagandist"  of  free  principles  with- 
out arraying  against  itself  the  combined  powers  of 
Europe ;  and  that  the  result  was  more  likely  to  be 
the  overthrow  of  republican  liberty  here  than  its 
establishment  there. 


FRANKLIN  PIERCE.  217 


FKANKLIN  PIEECE. 

BORN,  1804;  DIED,  1869,  AGED  65.  —  GKADUATED  AT  BOWDOIN 
COLLEGE  (ME.),  1824.  —  ADMITTED  TO  THE  BAR,  1827.  — 
ELECTED  TO  THE  NEW  HAMPSHIRE  STATE  LEGISLATURE, 
1829.  —  SPEAKER,  1832.— ELECTED  TO  CONGRESS,  1833.  —  TO 
THE  UNITED  STATES  SENA.TE,  1837.  —  GENERAL  IN  THE 
MEXICAN  WAR.  — PRESIDENT  OF  THE  CONSTITUTIONAL 
STATE  CONVENTION,  1850.— PRESIDENT,  1853-1857. 

[From  a  Message,  December  6,  1854.] 

OUR  forefathers  of  the  thirteen  United 

Colonies,  in  acquiring  their  independence,  and  in 
founding  this  republic  of  the  United  States  of 
America,  have  devolved  upon  us  their  descendants 
the  greatest  and  most  noble  trust  ever  committed 
to  the  hands  of  men,  imposing  upon  all,  and 
especially  such  as  the  public  will  may  have  in- 
vested, for  the  time  being,  with  political  functions, 
the  most  solemn  obligations.  We  have  to  main- 
tain inviolate  the  great  doctrine  of  the  inherent 
right  of  popular  self-government;  to  reconcile 
the  largest  liberty  of  the  individual  citizen  with 
complete  security  of  the  public  order ;  to  render 
cheerful  obedience  to  the  laws  of  the  land,  to  unite 
in  enforcing  their  execution,  and  to  frown  indig- 
nantly on  all  combinations  to  resist  them;  to  har- 
monize a  sincere  and  ardent  devotion  to  the  insti- 
tutions of  religious  faith  with  the  most  universal 


218  CHIPS   FROM   THE   WHITE   HOUSE. 

religious  toleration ;  to  preserve  the  rights  of  all 
by  causing  each  to  respect  those  of  the  other ;  to 
carry  forward  every  social  improvement  to  the 
utmost  limit  of  human  perfectibility  by  the  free 
action  of  mind  upon  mind,  not  by  obtrusive  inter- 
vention of  misplaced  force  ;  to  uphold  the  integrity 
and  guard  the  limitations  of  our  organic  law ;  to 
preserve  sacred  from  all  touch  of  usurpation,  as 
the  very  palladium  of  our  political  salvation,  the 
reserved  rights  and  powers  of  the  several  States 
and  of  the  people ;  to  cherish,  with  loyal  fealty 
and  devoted  affection,  this  Union,  as  the  only  sure 
foundation  on  which  the  hopes  of  civil  liberty 
rest ;  to  administer  government  with  vigor,  in- 
tegrity, and  rigid  economy  ;  to  cultivate  peace  and 
friendship  with  foreign  nations,  and  to  demand  and 
exact  equal  justice  ^rom  all,  but  to  do  wrong  to 
none ;  to  eschew  intermeddling  with  the  national 
policy  and  the  domestic  repose  of  other  govern- 
ments, and  to  repel  it  from  our  own ;  never  to 
shrink  from  war  when  the  rights  and  the  honor  of 
our  country  call  us  to  arms,  but  to  cultivate  in 
preference  the  arts  of  peace,  seek  enlargement  of 
the  rights  of  neutrality,  and  elevate  and  liberalize 
the  intercourse  of  nations ;  and  by  such  just  and 
honorable  means,  and  such  only,  while  exalting  the 
condition  of  the  republic,  to  assure  to  it  the  legiti- 
mate influence  and  the  benign  authority  of  a  great 
example  amongst  all  the  powers  of  Christendom. 


JAMES   BUCHANAN.  219 


JAMES  BUCHANAN. 

BORN,  1791;  DIED,  1868,  AGED  77.  — GRADUATED  AT  DICKIN- 
SON COLLEGE  (PENN.),  1809.  —  ADMITTED  TO  THE  BAR, 
1812.  —  ELECTED  TO  PENNSYLVANIA  LEGISLATURE,  1814.— 
TO  CONGRESS,  1821.  — MINISTER  TO  RUSSIA,  1831.  — UNITED 
STATES  SENATOR,  1833.  —  SECRETARY  OF  STATE,  1845-1849. 
MINISTER  TO  ENGLAND,  1853.— PRESIDENT,  1857-1861. 

[From  his  Message  to  Congress,  December,  I860.] 

In  order  to  justify  secession  as  a  consti- 
tutional remedy,  it  must  be  on  the  principle  that 
the  Federal  Government  is  a  mere  voluntary  asso- 
ciation of  States,  to  be  dissolved  at  pleasure  by 
any  one  of  the  contracting  parties.  If  this  be  so, 
the  confederacy  is  a  rope  of  sand,  to  be  penetrated 
and  dissolved  by  the  first  adverse  wave  of  public 
opinion  in  any  of  the  States.  In  this  manner  our 
thirty-three  States  may  resolve  themselves  into  as 
many  petty,  jarring,  and  hostile  republics,  each 
one  retiring  from  the  Union,  without  responsibility, 
whenever  any  sudden  excitement  might  impel  them 
to  such  a  course.  By  this  process,  a  union  might 
be  entirely  broken  into  fragments  in  a  few  weeks, 
which  cost  our  forefathers  many  years  of  toil,  pri- 
vation, and  blood  to  establish. 

Such  a  principle  is  wholly  inconsistent  with  the 


220  CHIPS   FROM   THE   WHITE   HOUSE. 

history  as  well  as  the  character  of  the  Federal  Con- 
stitution. After  it  was  framed  with  the  greatest 
deliberation  and  care,  it  was  submitted  to  conven- 
tions of  the  people  of  the  several  States  for  ratifi- 
cation. Its  provisions  were  discussed  at  length  in 
these  bodies,  composed  of  the  first  men  of  the 
country.  Its  opponents  contended  that  it  con- 
ferred powers  upon  the  Federal  Government  dan- 
gerous to  the  rights  of  the  States ;  while  its  advo- 
cates maintained  that,  under  a  fair  construction  of 
the  instrument,  there  was  no  foundation  for  such 
apprehension.  In  that  mighty  struggle  between 
the  first  intellects  of  this  or  any  other  country,  it 
never  occurred  to  any  individual,  either  among  its 
opponents  or  advocates,  to  assert,  or  even  to  inti- 
mate, that  their  efforts  were  all  vain  labor,  because 
the  moment  that  any  State  felt  herself  agrieved  she 
might  secede  from  the  Union.  What  a  crushing 
argument  Avould  this  have  proved  against  those 
who  dreaded  that  the  rights  of  the  States  would 
be  endangered  by  the  Constitution  !  The  truth  is, 
that  it  was  not  till  many  years  after  the  origin  of 
the  Federal  Government  that  such  a  proposition 
was  first  advanced.  It  was  then  met  and  refuted 
by  the  conclusive  arguments  of  General  Jackson, 
who,  in  his  Message  of  the  16th  of  January,  1833, 
transmitting  the  nullifying  ordinance  of  South 
Carolina  to  Congress,  employs  the  following  lan- 
guage :  "  The  right  of  the  people  of  a  single  State 


JAMES   BUCHANAN.  221 

to  absolve  themselves  at  will,  and  without  the  con- 
sent of  the  other  States,  from  their  most  solemn 
obligations,  and  hazard  the  liberty  and  happiness 
of  the  millions  composing  this  Union,  cannot  be 
acknowledged.  Such  authority  is  believed  to  be 
entirely  repugnant  both  to  the  principle  upon 
which  the  General  Government  is  constituted,  and 
to  the  objects  which  it  was  expressly  formed  to 
attain." 

"  This  government,  therefore,  is  a  great 

and  powerful  government,  invested  with  all  the 
attributes  of  sovereignty  over  the  special  subjects 
to  which  its  authority  extends.  Its  framers  never 
intended  to  implant  in  its  bosom  the  seeds  of  its 
own  destruction,  nor  were  they  at  its  creation 
guilty  of  the  absurdity  of  providing  for  its  own 
dissolution.  It  was  not  intended  by  its  framers  to 
be  the  baseless  fabric  of  a  vision,  which,  at  the 
touch  of  the  enchanter,  would  vanish  into  thin  air ; 
but  a  substantial  and  mighty  fabric,  capable  of  re- 
sisting the  slow  decay  of  time,  and  of  defying  the 
storms  of  ages." 

[Proclamation  for  a  National  Fast,  on  January  4,  1861.] 

The  Union  of  the  States  is  at  the  present 

moment  threatened  with  alarming  and  immediate 
danger  —  panic  and  distress  of  a  fearful  character 
prevail  throughout  the  land  —  our  laboring  popu- 
lation are  without  employment,  and  consequently 


222  CHIPS   FROM  THE   WHITE   HOUSE. 

deprived  of  the  means  of  earning  their  bread  —  in- 
deed, hope  seems  to  have  deserted  the  minds  of 
men.  All  classes  are  in  a  state  of  confusion  and 
dismay ;  and  the  wisest  counsels  of  our  best  and 
purest  men  are  wholly  disregarded. 


ABKAHAM  LINCOLN.  223 


ABEAHAM  LINCOLN. 

BORN,  1809;  DIED,  1865,  AGED  56.  — CAPTAIN  IN  THE  BLACK 
HAWK  WAR.  — ELECTED  TO  THE  ILLINOIS  STATE  LEG- 
ISLATURE, 1834.  — AGAIN,  1836.  — ADMITTED  TO  THE  BAR, 
1837.  — ELECTED  TO  CONGRESS,  1846.— MEMBER  OF  THE 
COMMITTEE  ON  POST-OFFICES  AND  POST-ROADS  AND 
WAR-DEPARTMENT  EXPENSES.— MADE  HIS  FIRST  SPEECH 
IN  CONGRESS,  JAN.  12,  1818,  IN  OPPOSITION  TO  THE  MEX- 
ICAN WAR.  — SPEECH  IN  COOPER'S  INSTITUTE,  NEW  YORK 
CITY,  I860.  — PRESIDENT,  1860-1865. 

["  HE  is  the  author  of  a  multitude  of  good  say- 
ings, so  disguised  as  pleasantries  that  it  is  certain 
they  had  no  reputation  at  first  but  as  jests ;  and 
only  later  by  the  very  acceptance  and  adoption 
they  find  in  the  mouths  of  millions,  turn  out  to  be 
the  wisdom  of  the  hour.  I  am  sure  if  this  man 
had  ruled  in  a  period  of  less  facility  of  printing, 
he  would  have  become  mythological  in  a  very  few 
years,  like  ^JEsop  or  Pilpay,  or  one  of  the  Seven 
Wise  Masters,  by  his  fables  and  proverbs. 

"  But  the  weight  and  penetration  of  many  pas- 
sages in  his  letters,  messages,  and  speeches,  hidden 
now  by  the  very  closeness  of  their  application  to 
the  moment,  are  destined  hereafter  to  a  wide  fame. 
What  pregnant  definitions !  what  unerring  com- 


224  CHIPS   FROM   THE   WHITE   HOUSE. 

mon-sense !  what  foresight !  and,  on  great  occa- 
sions, what  lofty,  and,  more  than  national,  what 
humane  tone." — Ralph  Waldo  Emerson. 

How  his  quaint  wit  made  home-truth 

seem  more  true.  —  London  Punch.'] 

[From  a  Lecture  before  the  Springfield  Lyceum,  on  the 
Perpetuation  of  our  Free  Institutions,  January,  1837.] 

At  what  point,  then,  is  the  approach  of 

danger  to  be  expected  ?  I  answer,  if  it  ever  reach 
us,  it  must  spring  up  amongst  us.  It  cannot  come 
from  abroad.  If  destruction  be  our  lot,  we  must 
ourselves  be  its  author  and  finisher.  As  a  nation 
of  freemen,  we  must  live  through  all  time,  or  die 
by  suicide. 

[Letter  to  Mr.  Herndon.]* 

WASHINGTON,  February  1,  1848. 

That  vote   affirms   that  the   [Mexican] 

war  was  unnecessarily  and  unconstitutionally  com- 
menced by  the  President;  and  I  will  stake  my 
life,  that,  if  you  had  been  in  my  place,  you*  would 
have  voted  just  as  I  did.  Would  you  have  voted 
what  you  felt  and  knew  to  be  a  lie  ?  I  know  you 
would  not.  Would  you  have  gone  out  of  the 
House,  —  skulked  the  vote?  I  expect  not.  If 
you  had  skulked  one  vote,  you  would  have  to 

*  Mr.  Lincoln  voted  for  Mr.  Ashmun's  amendment. 


ABEAHAM   LINCOLN.  225 

skulk  many  more  before  the  end  of  the  session. 
Richardson's  resolutions,  introduced  before  I  made 
any  move,  or  gave  any  vote  upon  the  subject, 
make  the  direct  question  of  the  justice  of  the  war ; 
so  that  00  man  can  be  silent  if  he  would.  You 
are  compelled  to  speak ;  and  your  only  alternative 
is  to  tell  the  truth  or  tell  a  lie. 

[To  the  Same.] 

WASHINGTON,  July  10,  1848. 

The  way  for  a  young  man  to  rise  is  to 

improve  himself  every  way  he  can,  never  sus- 
pecting that  anybody  wishes  to  hinder  him.  Allow 
me  to  assure  you  that  suspicion  and  jealousy  never 
did  help  any  man  in  any  situation.  There  may 
sometimes  be  ungenerous  attempts  to  keep  a  young 
man  down ;  and  they  will  succeed,  too,  if  he  allows 
his  mind  to  be  diverted  from  its  true  channel,  to 
brood  over  the  attempted  injury.  Cast  about,  and 
see  if  this  feeling  has  not  injured  every  person  you 
have  ever  known  to  fall  into  it. 

[From  a  Speech  in  Congress,  July  27,  1848.] 

The  other  day  one  of  the  gentlemen  from 

Georgia,  an  eloquent  man,  and  a  man  of  learning, 
so  fur  as  I  could  judge,  not  being  learned  myself, 
came  down  upon  us  astonishingly.  He  spoke  in 
what  the  Baltimore  American  calls  the  M  scathing 
and  withering  style."  At  the  end  of  his  second 

15 


226  CHIPS   FROM   THE   WHITE   HOUSE. 

severe  flash  I  was  struck  blind,  and  found  myself 
feeling  with  my  fingers  for  an  assurance  of  my 
continued  physical  existence.  A  little  of  the  bone 
was  left,  and  I  gradually  revived. 

I  say  that  no  man  is  good  enough  to  govern 
another  man  without  that  other's  consent.  —  Oct. 
1854. 

[From  a  Speech  in.  1856.] 

Twenty-two  years  ago,  Judge  Douglas  and  I 
became  first  acquainted;  we  were  both  young 
men  —  he  a  trifle  younger  than  I.  Even  then  we 
were  both  ambitious,  I  perhaps  quite  as  much  as 
he.  With  me  the  race  of  ambition  has  been  a 
failure  —  a  flat  failure.  With  him  it  has  been  one 
of  splendid  success.  His  name  fills  the  nation, 
and  it  is  not  unknown  in  foreign  lands.  I  affect 
no  contempt  for  the  high  eminence  he  has  reached, 
so  reached  that  the  oppressed  of  my  species  might 
have  shared  with  me  in  the  elevation.  I  would 
rather  stand  on  that  eminence  than  wear  the  richest 
crown  that  ever  pressed  a  monarch's  brow. 

[From  a  Speech  delivered  in  1857.     Describing  the  helpless 
state  of  the  American  slave,  he  said]  : 

They  have  him  in  his  prison-house.  They  have 
searched  his  person  and  left  no  prying  instrument 
with  him.  One  after  another  they  have  closed  the 
heavy  iron  doors  upon  him,  and  now  they  have 


ABE  AH  AM  LINCOLN.  227 

him,  as  it  were,  bolted  in  with  a  lock  of  a  hundred 
keys,  which  can  never  be  unlocked  without  the 
concurrence  of  every  key ;  the  keys  in  the  hands 
of  a  hundred  different  men,  and  they  scattered  to 
a  hundred  different  and  distant  places ;  and  they 
stand  musing  as  to  what  invention,  in  all  the 
dominions  of  mind  and  matter,  can  be  produced 
to  make  the  impossibility  of  his  escape  more  com- 
plete than  it  is. 

[From  a  Speech,*  delivered  at  Springfield,  Illinois,  June  17, 
1858,  before  the  Republican  State  Convention.] 

If  we  could  first  know  where  we  are,  and  whith- 
er we  are  tending,  we  could  better  judge  what  to 
do,  and  how  to  do  it.  We  are  now  far  into  the 
fifth  year  since  a  policy  was  initiated  with  the 
avowed  object  and  confident  promise  of  putting  an 
end  to  slavery  agitation.  Under  the  operation  of 
that  policy,  that  agitation  has  not  only  not  ceased, 

*  Mr.  Lincoln  read  this  speech,  before  its  public  delivery, 
to  Mr.  Herndon.  When  he  had  finished  the  first  paragraph, 
he  asked  his  auditor,  "  How  do  you  like  that?  What  do  you 
think  of  it?"  "I  think,"  returned  Mr.  Herndon,  "it  is 
true ;  but  is  it  entirely  politic  to  read  or  speak  it  as  it  is 
written?"  "What  makes  the  difference?"  Mr.  Lincoln 
said.  "  That  expression  is  a  ti'uth  of  all  human  experience, 
'A  house  divided  against  itself  cannot  stand;'  and  'he  that 
runs  may  read.'  The  proposition  is  indisputably  true,  and 

has  been  true  for  more  than  six  thousand  years ;  and 

I  will  deliver  it  as  written.  I  want  to  use  some  universally 
known  figure,  expressed  in  simple  language  as  universally 


228  CHIPS   FROM   THE    WHITE    HOUSE. 

but  has  constantly  augmented.  In  my  opinion,  it 
will  not  cease  until  a  crisis  shall  have  been  reached 
and  passed.  "  A  house  divided  against  itself  can- 
not stand."  I  believe  this  government  cannot  en- 
dure permanently  half  slave  and  half  free.  I  do 
not  expect  the  Union  to  be  dissolved.  I  do  not 
expect  the  house  to  fall ;  but  I  do  expect  it  will 
cease  to  be  divided.  It  will  become  all  one  thing, 
or  all  the  other.  Either  the  opponents  of  slavery 
will  arrest  the  further  spread  of  it,  and  place  it 
where  the  public  mind  shall  rest  in  the  belief  that 
it  is  in  the  course  of  ultimate  extinction,  or  its  ad- 
vocates will  push  it  forward  till  it  shall  become 
alike  lawful  in  all  the  states,  old  as  well  as  new, 
north  as  well  as  south. 

[In  the  same  speech,  Mr.  Lincoln  said  that  the 
doctrine   of    "  Squatter    Sovereignty,"   otherwise 

known,  that  may  strike  home  to  the  minds  of  men,  in  order 
to  rouse  them  to  the  peril  of  the  times.  I  would  rather  be 
defeated  with  this  expression  in  the  speech,  and  it  held  up 
and  discussed  before  the  people,  than  to  be  victorious  with- 
out it." 

Mr.  Lincoln  was  not  elected  senator.  In  the  summer  of 
1859,  at  a  party  of  friends,  the  subject  of  this  speech  was 
discussed.  "We  all  insisted,"  says  Mr.  Swctt,  who  was  one 
of  the  company,  "that  it  was  a  great  mistake,"  losing  him 
his  election.  "  Well,  gentlemen,"  replied  Mr.  Lincoln, 
"you  may  think  that  speech  was  a  mistake;  but  I  never 
have  believed  it  was,  and  you  will  see  the  day  when  you 
will  consider  it  was  the  nicest  thing  I  ever  said." — See  LA- 
MON'S  Life  of  Lincoln. 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  229 

called  "  sacred  right  of  self-government,"  as  ex- 
pressed in  the  "  Nebraska  Bill,"  by  which  the  right 
of  a  slaveholder  to  hold  slaves  in  any  territory  or 
state,  was  affirmed,  amounted  to  this  :]  — "  That 
if  any  one  man  chose  to  enslave  another,  no  third 
man  shall  be  allowed  to  object." 

[From  a  Speech  in  reply  to  Mr.  Douglas,  July  10, 1858.] 

We  are  now  a  mighty  nation ;  we  are  thirty,  or 
about  thirty  millions  of  people,  and  we  own  and 
inhabit  about  one-fifteenth  part  of  the  dry  land  of 
the  whole  earth.  We  run  our  memory  back  over 
the  pages  of  history  for  about  eighty-two  years, 
and  we  discover  that  we  were  then  a  very  small 
people  in  point  of  numbers,  vastly  inferior  to  what 
we  are  now,  with  a  vastly  less  extent  of  country, 
with  vastly  less  of  everything  we  deem  desirable 
among  men,  — we  look  upon  the  change  as  extreme- 
ly advantageous  to  us,  and  to  our  posterity,  and 
we  fix  upon  something  that  happened  away  back, 
as  in  some  way  or  other  being  connected  with  this 
rise  of  prosperity.  We  find  a  race  of  men  living  in 
that  day  whom  we  claim  as  our  fathers  and  grand- 
fathers ;  they  were  iron  men ;  they  fought  for  the 
principle  that  they  were  contending  for ;  and  we 
understood  that  by  what  they  then  did  it  has  fol- 
lowed that  the  degree  of  prosperity  which  we  now 
enjoy  has  come  to  us.  We  hold  this  annual  cel- 
ebration to  remind  ourselves  of  all  the  good  done 


230  CHIPS  FKOM   THE   WHITE   HOUSE. 

in  this  process  of  time,  of  how  it  was  done,  and 
who  did  it,  and  how  we  are  historically  connected 
with  it ;  and  we  go  from  these  meetings  in  better 
humor  with  ourselves  $  we  feel  more  attached  the 
one  to  the  other,  and  more  firmly  bound  to  the 
country  we  inhabit.  In  every  way  we  are  better 
men  in  the  age,  and  race,  and  country  in  which 
we  live,  for  these  celebrations. 

But  after  we  have  clone  all  this  we  have  not  yet 
reached  the  whole.  .  .  .  We  have  besides  these 
descended  by  blood  from  our  ancestors,  men 
among  us,  perhaps  half  our  people,  who  are  not 
descendants  at  all  of  these  men ;  they  are  men 
who  have  come  from  Europe,  —  German,  Irish, 
French,  and  Scandinavian,  —  men  that  have  come 
from  Europe  themselves,  or  whose  ancestors  have 
come  hither  and  settled  here,  finding  themselves 
our  equals  in  all  things.  If  they  look  back 
through  their  history  to  trace  their  connection 
with  those  days  by  blood,  they  find  they  have 
none ;  they  cannot  carry  themselves  back  into 
that  glorious  epoch,  and  make  themselves  feel 
that  they  are  part  of  us;  but  when  they  look 
through  that  old  Declaration  of  Independence  „ 
they  find  that  those  old  men  say  that  "  We. 
hold  these  truths  to  be  self-evident,  that  all  men 
are  created  equal,'*  etc..,  and  then  they  feel  that 
that  moral  sentiment  taught  in  that  day  evidences 
their  relation  to,  tfrpse  men,  that  it  is  the  father  of 


ABRAHAM   LINCOLN.  231 

all  moral  principle  in  them,  and  that  they  have  a 
right  to  claim  it  as  though  they  were  blood  of  the 
blood  and  flesh  of  the  flesh  of  the  men  who  wrote 
that  declaration ;  and  so  they  are.  That  is  the 
electric  cord  in  that  declaration  that  links  the 
hearts  of  patriotic  and  liberty-loving  men  to- 
gether, that  will  link  those  patriotic  hearts  as  long 
as  the  love  of  freedom  exists  in  the  minds  of  men 

throughout  the  world 

Those  arguments  that  are  made,  that  the  inferior 
race  are  to  be  treated  with  as  much  allowance  as 
they  are  capable  of  enjoying ;  that  as  much  is  to 
be  done  for  them  as  their  condition  will  allow. 
What  are  these  arguments?  They  are  the  argu- 
ments that  kings  have  made  for  enslaving  the  peo- 
ple in  all  ages  of  the  world.  You  will  find  that 
all  the  arguments  in  favor  of  king-craft  were  of 
this  class ;  they  always  bestrode  the  necks  of  the 
people,  not  that  they  wanted  to  do  it,  but  because 
the  people  were  better  off  for  being  ridden.  That 
is  their  argument,  and  this  argument  of  the  judge 
is  the  same  old  serpent  that  says,  You  work,  and  I 
eat;  you  toil,  and  I  will  enjoy  the  fruits  of  it. 
Turn  it  whatever  way  you  will,  whether  it  come 
from  the  mouth  of  a  king,  an  excuse  for  enslaving 
the  people  of  his  country,  or  from  the  mouth  of 
men  of  one  race  as  a  reason  for  enslaving  the  men 
of  another  race,  it  is  all  the  same  old  serpent,  and 
I  hold  if  that  course  of  argumentation  that  is  made 


232  CHIPS   FROM   THE    WHITE   HOUSE. 

for  the  purpose  of  convincing  the  public  mind  that 
we  should  not  care  about  this,  should  be  granted, 
it  does  not  stop  with  the  negro.  I  should  like  to 
know,  taking  this  old  Declaration  of  Independence, 
which  declares  that  all  men  are  equal  upon  princi- 
ple, and  making  exceptions  to  it,  where  will  it 
stop?  If  one  man  says  it  does  not  mean  the 
negro,  why  not  another  say  it  does  not  mean  some 
other  man  ?  If  that  declaration  is  not  the  truth, 
let  us  get  the  statute  book  in  which  we  find  it  and 
tear  it  out !  Who  is  so  bold  as  to  do  it !  If  it  is 
not  true,  let  us  tear  it  out !  [Cries  of  "  No,  no  !  "] 
Let  us  stick  to  it,  then ;  let  us  stand  firmly  by  it, 
then. 

[From  a  letter  to  Mr.  Speed,  August  24,  1858.] 

Our  progress  in  degeneracy  appears  to  me  to  be 
pretty  rapid.  As  a  nation,  we  began  by  declar- 
ing that  "  all  men  are  created  equal."  We  now 
practically  read  it,  "  All  men  are  created  equal, 
except  negroes."  When  the  Know-nothings  get 
control  it  will  read,  "  All  men  are  created  equal, 
except  negroes,  and  foreigners,  and  Catholics." 
When  it  comes  to  this  I  should  prefer  emigrating 
to  some  country  where  they  make  no  pretence  of 
loving  liberty  ;  to  Russia,  for  instance,  where  des- 
potism can  be  taken  pure,  and  without  the  base 
alloy  of  hypocrisy. 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  233 

[From  a  speech  delivered  October,  1858.] 

The  judge  has  alluded  to  the  Declaration  of  In- 
dependence, and  insisted  that  negroes  are  not  in- 
cluded in  that  declaration ;  and  that  it  is  a  slander 
upon  the  framers  of  that  instrument  to  suppose 
that  negroes  were  meant  therein  ;  and  he  asks  you, 
Is  it  possible  to  believe  that  Mr.  Jefferson,  who 
penned  the  immortal  paper,  could  have  supposed 
himself  applying  the  language  of  that  instrument 
to  the  negro  race,  and  yet  held  a  portion  of  that 
race  in  slavery  ?  Would  he  not  at  once  have  freed 
them?  I  only  have  to  remark,  .  .  .  that  I  believe 
the  entire  records  of  the  world,  from  the  date  of 
the  Declaration  of  Independence  up  to  within  three 
years  ago,  may  be  searched  in  vain  for  one  single 
affirmation,  from  one  single  man,  that  the  negro 
was  not  included  in  the  Declaration  of  Indepen- 
dence ;  .  .  .  that  Washington  ever  said  so,  that 
any  President  ever  said  so,  that  any  member  of 
Congress  ever  said  so,  or  that  any  living  man  upon 
the  whole  earth  ever  said  so,  until  the  necessities 
of  the  present  policy  of  the  Democratic  party,  in 
regard  to  slavery,  had  to  invent  that  affirmation. 
And  I  will  remind  Judge  Douglas  and  this  audi- 
ence, that  while  Mr.  Jefferson  was  the  owner  of 
slaves,  in  speaking  upon  this  very  subject,  he  used 
the  strong  language,  that  "he  trembled  for  his 
country  when  he  remembered  that  God  was  just." 


234  CHIPS   FROM   THE   WHITE   HOUSE. 

.  .  .  Ho  supposed  there  was  a  question  of  God's 
eternal  justice  wrapped  up  in  the  enslaving  of  any 
race  of  men,  or  any  man,  and  that  those  who  did 
so  braved  the  arm  of  Jehovah ;  that  when  a  nation 
thus  dared  the  Almighty,  every  friend  of  that  na- 
tion had  cause  to  dread  His  wrath. 

[From  a  Speech  delivered  in  1858.] 

Judge  Douglas  declares  that,  if  any  community 
want  slavery,  they  have  a  right  to  have  it.  He  can 
say  that  logically,  if  he  says  that  there  is  no  wrong 
in  slavery ;  but  if  you  admit  that  there  is  a  wrong  in 
it,  he  cannot  logically  say  that  anybody  has  a  right 
to  do  wrong.  He  insists  that,  upon  the  score  of 
equality,  the  owners  of  slaves  and  owners  of  prop- 
erty, —  of  horse,  and  every  other  sort  of  property, 

—  should  be  alike,  and  hold  them  alike,  in  a  new 
territory.     That  is  perfectly  logical  if  the  species 
of  property  arc  alike,  and  are  equally  founded  in 
right.    But  if  you  admit  that  one  of  them  is  wrong, 
you  cannot  institute  any  equality  between  right 
and  wrong.     And  from  this  difference  of  sentiment, 

—  the  belief  on  the  part  of  one  that  the  institu- 
tion is  wrong,  and  a  policy  springing  from  that 
belief  which  looks  to  the  arrest  of  the  enlargement 
of  that  wrong ;  and  this  other  sentiment,  that  it  is 
no  wrong,  and  a  policy  sprung  from  that  sentiment 
which  will   tolerate   no   idea   of  preventing  that 
wrong  from  growing  larger,  and  looks  to  there 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  235 

never  being  an  end  of  it  through  all  the  existence 
of  things,  —  arises  the  real  difference  between 
Judge  Douglas  and  his  friends  on  the  one  hand, 
and  the  Republicans  on  the  other.  Now  I  confess 
myself  as  belonging  to  that  class  in  the  country 
who  contemplate  slavery  as  a  moral,  social,  and 
political  evil,  having  due  regard  for  its  actual  ex- 
istence amongst  us,  and  the  difficulties  of  getting 
rid  of  it  in  any  satisfactory  way,  and  to  all  the 
constitutional  obligations  wrhich  have  been  thrown 
about  it;  but,  nevertheless,  desire  a  policy  that 
looks  to  the  prevention  of  it  as  a  wrong,  and  looks 
hopefully  to  the  time  when,  as  a  wrong,  it  may 
come  to  an  end. 

[From  a  Speech  at  Alton,  Illinois.     To  the  question,  "Is 
slavery  wrong?  "  Mr.  Lincoln  said]  : 

That  is  the  real  issue.  That  is  the  issue  that 
will  continue  in  this  country  when  these  poor 
tongues  of  Judge  Douglas  and  myself  shall  be 
silent.  It  is  the  eternal  struggle  between  these 
two  principles  —  right  and  wrong — throughout 
the  world.  They  are  two  principles  that  have 
stood  face  to  face  from  the  beginning  of  time,  and 
will  ever  continue  to  struggle.  The  one  is  the 
common  right  of  humanity,  and  the  other  the  di- 
vine right  of  kings. 


236  CHIPS   FKOM   THE    WHITE   HOUSE. 

[From  a  Speech  at  Springfield,  Illinois.] 

Judge  Douglas  is  going  back  to  the  era  of  the 
Revolution,  and,  to  the  extent  of  his  ability,  muz- 
zling the  cannon  which  thunders  its  *  annual  joy- 
ous return.  When  he  invites  any  people  willing 
to  have  slavery  to  establish  it,  he  is  blowing  out 
the  moral  lights  around  us.  When  he  says  he 
"  cares  not  whether  slavery  is  voted  down  or  voted 
up,"  —  that  it  is  a  sacred  right  of  self-government, 
—  he  is,  in  my  judgment,  penetrating  the  human 
soul,  and  eradicating  the  light  of  reason  and  the 
love  of  liberty  in  this  American  people. 

[From  a  Speech  in  New  York,  at  the  Cooper  Institute,  Feb- 
ruary 27,  I860,] 

Wrong  as  we  think  slavery  is,  we  can 

yet  afford  to  let  it  alone  where  it  is,  because  that 
much  is  due  to  the  necessity  arising  from  its  actual 
presence  in  the  nation;  but  can  we,  while  our 
votes  will  prevent  it,  allow  it  to  spread  into  the 
national  Territories,  and  to  overrun  here  in  these 
Free  States? 

If  our  sense  of  duty  forbids  this,  then  let  us 
stand  by  our  duty  fearlessly  and  effectively.  Let 
us  be  diverted  by  none  of  these  sophistical  con- 
trivances wherewith  we  are  so  industriously  plied 

*  The  celebration  of  Independence,  on  the  4th  of  July. 


ABEAHAM   LINCOLN.  237 

and  belabored  —  contrivances  such  as  groping  for 
some  middle  ground  between  the  right  and  the 
wrong,  A^ain  as  the  search  for  a  man  who  should  be 
neither  a  living  man  nor  a  dead  man  —  such  a 
policy  of  "  don't  care  "  on  a  question  about  which 
all  true  men  do  care,  —  such  as  Union  appeals  be- 
seeching true  Union  men  to  yield  to  Disunionists, 
reversing  the  divine  rule,  and  calling,  not  the  sin- 
ners, but  the  righteous,  to  repentance — such  as 
invocations  to  Washington,  imploring  men  to  un- 
say what  Washington  said,  and  undo  what  Wash- 
ington did. 

Neither  let  us  be  slandered  from  our  duty  by 
false  accusations  against  us,  nor  frightened  from  it 
by  menaces  of  destruction  to  the  government,  nor 
of  dungeons  to  ourselves.  Let  us  have  faith  that 
right  makes  might ;  and  in  that  faith,  let  us,  to 
the  end,  dare  to  do  our  duty  as  we  understand  it. 

[Farewell  Speech  to  his  neighbors,  from  the  platform  of  the 
car,  as  he  was  leaving  Springfield  for  Washington,  Feb- 
ruary 11,  1861.] 

Friends,  —  No  one  who  has  never  been  placed 
in  a  like  position  can  understand  my  feelings  at 
this  hour,  nor  the  oppressive  sadness  I  feel  at  this 
parting.  For  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century  I 
have  lived  among  you,  and  during  that  time  I  have 
received  nothing  but  kindness  at  your  hands.  Here 
I  have  lived  from  my  youth,  until  now  I  am  an  old 


238  CHIPS  FROM  THE  WHITE   HOUSE. 

man.  Here  the  most  sacred  ties  of  earth  were 
assumed.  Here  all  my  children  were  born ;  and 
here  one  of  them  lies  buried.  To  you,  dear 
friends,  I  owe  all  that  I  have,  all  that  I  am.  All 
the  strange,  checkered  past  seems  to  crowd  now 
upon  my  mind.  To-day  I  leave  you.  I  go  to  as- 
sume a  task  more  difficult  than  that  which  devolved 
upon  Washington.  Unless  the  great  God,  who 
assisted  him,  shall  be  with  and  aid  me,  I  must  fail ; 
but  if  the  same  omniscient  mind  and  almighty  arm 
that  directed  and  protected  him,  shall  guide  and 
support  me,  I  shall  not  fail, — I  shall  succeed. 
Let  us  all  pray  that  the  God  of  our  fathers  may 
not  forsake  us  now.  To  Him  I  commend  you 
all.  Permit  me  to  ask  that,  with  equal  sin- 
cerity and  faith,  you  will  invoke  His  wisdom 
and  guidance  for  me.  With  these  few  words  I 
must  leave  you ;  for  how  long  I  know  not.  Friends, 
one  and  all,  I  must  now  bid  you  an  affectionate 
farewell. 

[Tn  an  Address  to  the  Legislatui'e  of  New  Jersey,  on  his 
way  to  Washington,  February,  1861,  Mr.  Lincoln  said]  : 

I  shall  endeavor  to  take  the  ground  I  deem  most 
just  to  the  North,  the  East,  the  West,  the  South, 
and  the  whole  country.  I  take  it,  I  hope,  in  good 
temper,  —  certainly  with  no  malice  toward  any  sec- 
tion. I  shall  do  all  that  may  be  in  my  power  to 
promote  a  peaceful  settlement  of  all  our  difficulties. 


ABRAHAM   LINCOLN.  239 

The  man  does  not  live  who  is  more  devoted  to 
peace  than  I  am  —  none  who  would  do  more  to 
preserve  it.  But  it  may  be  necessary  to  put  the 
foot  down  firmly.  And  if  I  do  my  duty,  and  do 
right,  you  will  sustain  me,  will  you  not?  Received 
as  I  am  by  the  members  of  a  Legislature,  the  ma- 
jority of  whom  do  not  agree  with  me  in  political 
sentiments,  I  trust  that  I  may  have  their  assistance 
in  piloting  the  ship  of  State  through  this  voyage, 
surrounded  by  perils  as  it  is ;  for  if  it  should  suf- 
fer shipwreck  now,  there  will  be  no  pilot  ever 
needed  for  another  voyage. 

[At  Philadelphia,  in  "  Independence  Hall,"  from  which  was 
issued  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  in  1776,  Mr. 
Lincoln  said]  : 

I  am  filled  with  deep  emotion  at  finding  myself 
standing  here,  in  this  place,  where  were  collected 
the  wisdom,  the  patriotism,  the  devotion  to  prin- 
ciple, from  which  sprang  the  institutions  under 
which  we  live.  You  have  kindly  suggested  to  me 
that  in  my  hands  is  the  task  of  restoring  peace  to 
the  present  distracted  condition  of  the  country.  I 
can  say  in  return,  sir,  that  all  the  political  senti- 
ments I  entertain  have  been  drawn,  so  far  as  I 
have  been  able  to  draw  them,  from  the  sentiments 
which  originated  and  were  given  to  the  woild  from 
this  hall.  I  have  never  had  a  feeling  politically 
that  did  not  spring  from  the  sentiments  embodied 


240  CHIPS   FROM   THE   WHITE   HOUSE. 

in  the  Declaration  of  Independence.  I  have  often 
pondered  over  the  dangers  which  were  incurred 
by  the  men  who  assembled  here,  and  framed 
and  adopted  the  Declaration  of  Independence. 
I  have  pondered  over  the  toils  that  were  en- 
dured by  the  officers  and  soldiers  of  the  army 
who  achieved  that  independence.  I  have  often 
inquired  of  myself  what  great  principle  or  idea  it 
was  that  kept  this  confederacy  so  long  together. 
It  was  not  the  mere  matter  of  the  separation  of  the 
colonies  from  the  mother-land,  but  that  sentiment 
in  the  Declaration  of  Independence  which  gave 
liberty,  not  alone  to  the  people  of  this  country, 
but,  I  hope,  to  the  world  for  all  future  time.  It 
was  that  which  gave  promise  that  in  due  time  the 
weight  would  be  lifted  from  the  shoulders  of  all 
men.  This  is  a  sentiment  embodied  in  the  Decla- 
ration of  Independence.  Now,  my  friends,  can 
this  country  be  saved  upon  this  basis  ?  If  it  can, 
I  will  consider  myself  one  of  the  happiest  men 
in  the  world  if  I  can  help  to  save  it.  If  it  cannot 
be  saved  upon  that  principle,  it  will  be  truly  awful. 
But  if  this  country  cannot  be  saved  without  giving 
up  that  principle,  I  was  about  to  say,  I  would 
rather  be  assassinated  on  this  spot  than  surrender 
it.  Now,  in  my  view  of  the  present  aspect  of  af- 
fairs, there  need  be  no  bloodshed  or  war.  There 
is  no  necessity  for  it.  I  am  not  in  favor  of  such  a 
course,  and  I  may  say,  in  advance,  that  there  will 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  241 

be  no  bloodshed  unless  it  be  forced  upon  the  Gov- 
ernment, and  then  it  will  be  compelled  to  act  in 
self-defence. 

My  friends,  this  is  wholly  an  unexpected  speech. 
...  I  may,  therefore,  have  said  something  in- 
discreet. I  have  said  nothing  but  what  I  am  will- 
ing to  live  by,  and,  if  it  be  the  pleasure  of  Al- 
mighty God,  to  die  by. 

[From  his  Inaugural  Address,  March  4,  1861.] 

Why  should    there    not    be   a   patient 

confidence  in  the  ultimate  justice  of  the  people? 
Is  there  any  better  or  equal  hope  in  the  world  ? 
In  our  present  differences,  is  either  party  without 
faith  of  being  in  the  right  ?  If  the  Almighty  Ruler 
of  nations,  with  his  eternal  truth  and  justice,  be 
on  your  side  of  the  North,  or  on  yours  of  the 
South,  that  truth  and  that  justice  will  surely  pre- 
vail, by  the  judgment  of  the  great  tribunal  of  the 

American  people 

You  can  have  no  conflict  without  being  your- 
selves the  aggressors.  You  have  no  oath  regis- 
tered in  heaven  to  destroy  the  government,  while 
I  shall  have  the  most  solemn  one  to  "  preserve, 
protect,  and  defend  "  it. 

I  am  loath  to  close.  We  are  not  enemies,  but 
friends.  We  must  not  be  enemies.  Though  pas- 
sion may  have  strained,  it  must  not  break  our 
bonds  of  affection.  The  mystic  chord  of  memory, 

16 


242  CHIPS   FROM   THE   WHITE    HOUSE. 

stretching  from  every  battle-field  and  patriot 
grave  to  every  living  heart  and  hearthstone  all 
over  this  broad  land,  will  yet  swell  the  ciiorus  of 
the  Union,  when  again  touched,  as  surely  it  will 
be,  by  the  better  angels  of  our  nature. 

[From  a  Message  to  Congress,  July  4,  1861:] 

It  might  seem,  at  first  thought,  to  be  of 

little  difference  whether  the  present  movement  at 
the  South  be  called  "  secession,"  or  "  rebellion." 
The  movers,  however,  will  understand  the  differ- 
ence. At  the  beginning  they  knew  they  could 
never  raise  their  treason  to  any  respectable  mag- 
nitude by  any  name  which  implies  violation  of  law. 
They  knew  their  people  possessed  as  much  of 
moral  sense,  as  much  of  devotion  to  law  and  order, 
and  as  much  pride  in,  and  reverence  for,  the  his- 
tory and  government  of  their  common  country,  as 
any  other  civilized  and  patriotic  people.  They 
knew  they  could  make  no  advancement  directly  in 
the  teeth  of  these  strong  and  noble  sentiments. 
Accordingly  they  commenced  by  an  insidious  de- 
bauching of  the  public  mind.  They  invented  an 
ingenious  sophism,  which,  if  conceded,  was  fol- 
lowed by  perfectly  logical  steps,  through  all  the 
incidents,  to  the  complete  destruction  of  the 
Union.  The  sophism  itself  is,  that  any  State  of 
the  Union  may,  consistently  with  the  National 
Constitution,  and  therefore  lawfully  and  peace- 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  243 

fully,  withdraw  from  the  Union  without  the  con- 
sent of  the  Union,  or  of  any  other  State.  The 
little  disguise  that  the  supposed  right  is  to  be  ex- 
ercised only  for  just  cause,  themselves  to  be  the 
sole  judge  of  its  justice,  is  too  thin  to  want  any 
notice. 

With  rebellion  thus  sugar-coated,  they  have 
been  drugging  the  public  mind  of  their  section  for 
more  than  thirty  years,  and  until  at  length  they 
have  brought  many  good  men  to  a  willingness  to 
take  up  arms  against  the  government  the  day  after 
some  assemblage  of  men  have  enacted  that  farcical 
pretense  of  taking  their  State  out  of  the  Union, 
who  could  1 
day  before. 


who  could  have  been  brought  to  no  such  thing  the 


[Speaking  of  what  was  called  the  right  of  peaceful  secession, 
that  is,  secession  in  accordance  with  the  National  Con- 
stitution, he  said]  : 

This  sophism  derives  much,  perhaps  the  whole, 
of  .its  currency  from  the  assumption  that  there  is 
some  omnipotent  and  sacred  supremacy  pertaining 
to  a  State  —  to  each  State  of  our  Federal  Union. 
Our  States  have  neither  more  nor  less  power  than 
that  reserved  to  them  in  the  Union  by  the  Consti- 
tution, no  one  of  them  ever  having  been  a  State 
out  of  the  Union.  The  original  ones  passed  into 
the  Union  even  before  they  cast  off  their  British 
colonial  dependence,  and  the  new  ones  each  came 


244  CHIPS   FROM  THE   WHITE   HOUSE. 

into  the  Union  directly  from  a  condition  of  depend- 
ence, excepting  Texas.  And  even  Texas,  in  its 
temporary  independence,  was  never  designated  a 
State.  The  new  ones  only  took  the  designation 
of  States  on  coming  into  the  Union,  while  that 
name  was  first  adopted  for  the  old  ones  in  and  by 
the  Declaration  of  Independence.  Therein  the 
"  United  Colonies  "  were  declared  to  be  "  free  and 
independent  States ; "  but,  even  then,  the  object 
plainly  was  not  to  declare  their  independence  of 
one  another,  or  of  the  Union,  but  directly  the  con- 
trary, as  their  mutual  pledge,  and  their  mutual 
action,  before,  at  the  time,  and  afterward,  abun- 
dantly show.  The  express  plighting  of  faith  by 
each  and  all  of  the  original  thirteen,  in  the  arti- 
cles of  Confederation,  two  years  later,  that  the 
Union  shall  be  perpetual,  is  most  conclusive. 
Having  never  been  States,  either  in  substance  or 
in  name,  outside  of  the  Union,  whence  this  magi- 
cal omnipotence  of  "  State  rights,"  asserting  a  claim 
of  power  to  lawfully  destroy  the  Union  itself? 
Much  is  said  about  the  "  sovereignty "  of  the 
States ;  but  the  word  even  is  not  in  the  National 
Constitution,  nor,  as  is  believed,  in  any  of  the 
State  Constitutions.  What  is  a  "  sovereignty  "  in 
the  political  sense  of  the  term?  Would  it  be  far 
wrong  to  define  it  a  "  political  community,  with- 
out a  political  superior?  "  Tested  by  this,  no  one 
of  our  States,  except  Texas,  ever  was  a  sover- 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  245 

eignty ;  and  even  Texas  gave  up  the  character  on 
coming  into  the  Union ;  by  which  act  she  acknowl- 
edged the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  and 
the  laws  and  treaties  of  the  United  States  made  in 
pursuance  of  the  Constitution,  to  be,  for  her,  the 
supreme  laws  of  the  land.  The  States  have  their 
status  IN  the  Union,  and  they  have  no  other  legal 
status.  If  they  break  from  this,  they  can  only  do 
so  against  law,  and  by  revolution.  The  Union, 
and  not  themselves  separately,  procured  their 
independence  and  their  liberty.  By  conquest,  or 
purchase,  the  Union  gave  each  of  them  whatever 
of  independence  and  liberty  it  has.  The  Union  is 
older  than  any  of  the  States ;  and,  in  fact,  it 
created  them  as  States.  Originally,  some  de- 
pendent colonies  made  the  Union,  and,  in  turn, 
the  Union  threw  off  their  old  dependence  for  them, 
and  made  them  States,  such  as  they  are.  Not 
one  of  them  ever  had  a  State  constitution  indepen- 
dent of  the  Union.  Of  course,  it  is  not  forgotten 
that  all  the  new  States  framed  their  constitutions 
before  they  entered  the  Union;  nevertheless  de- 
pendent upon,  and  preparatory  to,  coming  into  the 
Union. 

This  relative  matter  of  National  power  and  State 
rights,  as  a  principle,  is  no  other  than  the  princi- 
ple of  generality,  and  locality.  Whatever  con- 
cerns the  whole  should  be  confided  to  the  whole  — 


246  CHIPS   FROM   THE   WHITE   HOUSE. 

to  the  general  government;  while  whatever  con- 
cerns only  the  State  should  be  left  exclusively  to 
the  State.  This  is  all  there  is  of  original  principle 
about  it. 

Our  adversaries  have  adopted  some  declarations 
of  independence,  in  which,  unlike  the  good  old 
one  penned  by  Jefferson,  they  omit  the  words, 
"  All  men.  are  created  equal."  Why?  They  have 
adopted  a  temporary  national  constitution,  in  the 
preamble  of  which,  unlike  our  good  old  one  signed 
by  Washington,  they  omit  "  We,  the  people,"  and 
substitute  "  We,  the  deputies  of  the  sovereign  and 
independent  States."  Why?  Why  this  deliber- 
ate pressing  out  of  view  the  rights  of  men  and  the 
authority  of  the  people?  This  is  essentially  a 
people's  contest.  On  the  side  of  the  Union,  it  is 
a  struggle  for  maintaining  in  the  world  that  form 
and  substance  of  government  whose  leading  object 
is  to  elevate  the  condition  of  men ;  to  lift  artificial 
weights  from  all  shoulders ;  to  clear  the  paths  of 
laudable  pursuit  to  all ;  to  afford  all  an  unfettered 
start,  and  a  fair  chance  in  the  race  of  life.  Yield- 
ing to  partial  and  temporary  departures,  from  ne- 
cessity, this  is  the  leading  object  of  the  govern- 
ment, for  whose  existence  we  contend.  I  am  most 
happy  to  believe  that  the  plain  people  understand 
and  appreciate  this. 


ABRAHAM   LINCOLN.  247 

[Reply  to  a  Letter  of  Horace  Creel  ey,  entitled,  "The  Prayer 
of  Twenty  Millions,"  to  President  Lincoln.] 

August  22,  1862. 

I  have  just  read  yours  of  the  nineteenth,  ad- 
dressed to  myself  through  the  New  York  Tribune. 
If  there  be  in  it  any  statement,  or  assumptions  of 
fact,  which  I  may  know  to  be  erroneous,  I  do  not 
now  and  here  controvert  them.  If  there  be  in  it 
any  inference,  which  I  may  believe  to  be  falsely 
drawn,  I  do  not  now  and  here  argue  against  them. 
If  there  be  perceptible  in  it  an  impatient  and  dic- 
tatorial tone,  I  waive  it  in  deference  to  an  old 
friend,  whose  heart  I  have  always  supposed  to  be 
right. 

As  to  the  policy  I  "  seem  to  be  pursuing,"  as 
you  say,  I  have  not  meant  to  leave  any  one  in 
doubt. 

I  would  save  the  Union.  I  would  save  it  the 
shortest  way  under  the  Constitution.  The  sooner 
the  National  authority  can  be  restored,  the  nearer 
the  Union  will  be  "  the  Union  as  it  was."  If  there 
be  those  who  would  not  save  the  Union  unless  they 
could  at  the  same  time  save  Slavery,  I  do  not 
agree  with  them.  If  there  be  those  who  would 
not  save  the  Union  unless  they  could  at  the  same 
time  destroy  slavery,  I  do  not  agree  with  them. 
My  paramount  object  in  this  struggle  is  to  save 
the  Union,  and  is  not  either  to  save  or  destroy 
slavery.  If  I  could  save  the  Union  without  freeing 


248  CHIPS   FKOM   THE    WHITE    HOUSE. 

any  slave,  I  would  do  it ;  and  if  I  could  save  it  by 
freeing  all  the  slaves,  I  would  do  it ;  and  if  I  could 
do  it  by  freeing  some  and  leaving  others  alone,  I 
would  also  do  that.  What  I  do  about  slavery  and 
the  colored  race,  I  do  because  I  believe  it  helps  to 
save  this  Union ;  and  what  I  forbear,  I  forbear 
because  I  do  not  believe  it  would  help  to  save  the 
Union.  I  shall  do  less  whenever  I  shall  believe 
what  I  ani  doing  hurts  the  cause,  and  I  shall  do 
more  whenever  I  shall  believe  doing  more  will 
help  the  cause.  I  shall  try  to  correct  errors  when 
shown  to  be  errors ;  and  I  shall  adopt  new  views 
so  fast  as  they  shall  appear  to  be  true  views. 

I  have  here  stated  rny  purpose  according  to  my 
view  of  official  duty,  and  I  intend  no  modification 
of  my  oft-expressed  personal  wish,  that  all  men, 
everywhere,  could  be  free. 

[To  a  delegation  of  clergymen  from  Chicago,  who  urged 
him  to  issue  a  proclamation  of  emancipation,  September 
13,  1862.] 

I  do  not  want  to  issue  a  document  that  the 

whole  world  will  see  must  necessarily  be  inopera- 
tive, like  the  pope's  bull  against  the  comet.  .  .  .  Do 
not  misunderstand  me,  because  I  have  mentioned 
these  objections.  They  indicate  the  difficulties 
which  have  thus  far  prevented  my  action  in  some 
such  way  as  you  desire.  I  have  not  decided 
against  a  proclamation  of  liberty  to  the  slaves,  but 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  249 

hold  the  matter  under  advisement.  And  I  can 
assure  you  that  the  subject  is  on  my  mind,  by  day 
and  night,  more  than  any  other.  Whatever  shall 
appear  to  be  God's  will,  I  will  do. 

[To  strictures  upon  his  conduct  of  the  Avar  by  somo  Western 
gentlemen,  he  replied] : 

Gentlemen,  suppose  all  the  property  you  were 
worth  was  in  gold,  and  you  had  put  it  in  the  hands 
of  Blondin  to  carry  across  Niagara  Falls  on  a  tight- 
rope, would  you  shake  the  rope  while  he  was  pass- 
ing over  it,  or  keep  shouting  to  him,  "Blondin, 
stoop  a  little  more  ;  "  "  Go  a  little  faster  ?  "  No,  I 
am  sure  you  would  not.  You  would  hold  your 
breath  as  well  as  your  tongue,  and  keep  your  hands 
off  until  he  was  safely  over.  Now  the  government 
is  in  the  same  situation,  and  is  carrying  across  a 
stormy  ocean  an  immense  weight ;  untold  treasures 
are  in  its  hands  ;  it  is  doing  the  best  it  can  ;  don't 
badger  it ;  keep  silence,  and  it  will  get  you  safely 
over. 

[General  Order  respecting  the  observance  of  the  Sabbath  in 
the  army  and  navy.] 

November  16,  1862. 

The  President,  Commander-in-Chief  of  the  Army 
and  Navy,  desires  and  enjoins  the  orderly  observ- 
ance of  the  Sabbath  by  the  officers  and  men  in 
the  military  and  naval  service.  The  importance 
for  man  and  beast  of  the  prescribed  weekly  rest, 


250  CHIPS   FROM   THE    WHITE   HOUSE. 

the  sacred  rights  of  Christian  soldiers  and  sailors, 
a  becoming  deference  to  the  best  sentiment  of  a 
Christian  people,  and  a  due  regard  for  the  Divine 
will,  demand  that  Sunday  labor  in  the  army  and 
navy  be  reduced  to  the  measure  of  strict  neces- 
sity. 

The  discipline  and  character  of  the  national 
forces  should  not  suffer,  nor  the  cause  they  defend 
be  imperilled,  by  the  profanation  of  the  day  or 
the  name  of  the  Most  High.  "  At  this  time  of 
public  distress,"  adopting  the  words  of  Washington 
in  1776,  "men  may  find  enough  to  do  in  the  ser- 
vice of  God  and  their  country  without  abandoning 
themselves  to  vice  and  immorality."  The  first 
general  order  issued  by  the  Father  of  his  Country 
after  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  indicates 
the  spirit  in  which  our  institutions  were  founded 
and  should  ever  be  defended  :  "  The  General  hopes 
and  trusts  that  every  officer  and  man  will  endeavor 
to  live  and  act  as  becomes  a  Christian  soldier  de- 
fending the  dearest  rights  and  liberties  of  his  coun- 
try." 

[To  Mr.  Colfax,  on  the  evening  of  the  day  on  which  Mr. 
Lincoln  signed  the  Emancipation  Proclamation,  January 
1,  1863.] 

The  South  had  fair  warning,  that  if  they  did  not 
return  to  their  duty,  I  should  strike  at  this  pillar 
of  their  strength.  The  promise  must  now  be 
kept,  and  I  shall  never  recall  one  word. 


ABRAHAM   LINCOLN.  251 

[Reply  to  an  Address  by  the  citizens  of  Manchester,  Eng- 
land, after  the  issuing  of  the  Proclamation  of  Emanci- 
pation.] 

January  19,  1863. 

To  the  Workingmen  of  Manchester :  .  .  . 
When  I  came,  on  the  fourth  of  March,  1861, 
through  a  free  and  constitutional  election,  to  pre- 
side in  the  Government  of  the  United  States,  the 
country  was  found  at  the  verge  of  civil  war. 
Whatever  might  have  been  the  cause,  or  whose- 
soever the  fault,  one  duty,  paramount  to  all  others, 
was  before  me,  namely,  to  maintain  and  preserve 
at  once  the  Constitution  and  the  integrity  of  the 
Federal  Republic.  A  conscientious  purpose  to 
perform  this  duty  is  the  key  to  all  the  measures 
of  administration  which  have  been,  and  to  all 
which  will  hereafter  be  pursued.  Under  our  frame 
of  government  and  my  official  oath,  I  could  not 
depart  from  this  purpose  if  I  would.  It  is  not 
always  in  the  power  of  governments  to  enlarge  or 
restrict  the  scope  of  moral  results  which  follow 
the  policies  that  they  may  deem  it  necessary,  for 
the  public  safety,  from  time  to  time  to  adopt 

I  know,  and  deeply  deplore,  the  sufferings  which 
the  workingmen  at  Manchester,  and  in  all  Europe, 
are  called  to  endure  in  this  crisis.  It  has  been  often 
studiously  represented  that  the  attempt  to  over- 
throw this  Government,  which  was  built  upon  the 
foundation  of  human  rights,  and  to  substitute  for 


252  CHIPS   FKOM   THE    WHITE   HOUSE. 

it  one  which  should  rest  exclusively  on  the  basis 
of  human  slavery,  was  likely  to  obtain  the  favor 
of  Europe.  Through  the  action  of  our  disloyal 
citizens,  the  workingmen  of  Europe  have  been 
subjected  to  severe  trial,  for  the  purpose  of  forcing 
their  sanction  to  that  attempt.  Under  these  cir- 
cumstances I  cannot  but  regard  your  decisive  utter- 
ances upon  the  question  as  an  instance  of  sublime 
Christian  heroism  which  has  not  been  surpassed  in 
any  age  or  in  any  country.  It  is  indeed  an  ener- 
getic and  re-inspiring  assurance  of  the  inherent 
power  of  truth,  and  of  the  ultimate  and  universal 
triumph  of  justice,  humanity,  and  freedom.  I  do 
not  doubt  that  the  sentiments  you  have  expressed 
will  be  sustained  by  your  great  nation ;  and,  on 
the  other  hand,  I  have  no  hesitation  in  assuring 
you  that  they  will  excite  admiration,  esteem,  and 
the  most  reciprocal  feelings  of  friendship  among 
the  American  people. 

I  hail  this  interchange  of  sentiment,  therefore, 
as  an  augury  that,  whatever  else  may  happen, 
whatever  misfortune  may  befall  your  country  or 
my  own,  the  peace  and  friendship  which  now  ex- 
ist between  the  two  nations  will  be,  as  it  shall  be 
my  desire  to  make  them,  perpetual. 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  253 

[From  his  Reply  to  Resolutions  of  the  Naw  York  Demo- 
crats, May  19,  1863,  protesting  against  his  suspension  of 
the  writ  of  habeas  corpus,  and  arrest  of  Mr.  Vallanding- 
ham  for  the  crime  of  seeking  to  prevent  the  enlistment 
of  troops.] 

Prior  to  my  installation  here  it  had  been 

inculcated  that  any  State  had  a  lawful  right  to 
secede  from  the  National  Union,  and  that  it  would 
be  expedient  to  exercise  the  right  whenever  the 
devotees  of  the  doctrine  should  fail  to  elect  a 
president  to  their  own  liking.  I  was  elected  con- 
trary  to  their  liking ;  and  accordingly,  so  far  as  it 
was  legally  possible,  they  had  taken  seven  States 
out  of  the  Union,  had  seized  many  of  the  United 
States  forts,  and  had  fired  upon  the  United  States 
flag,  all  before  I  was  inaugurated,  and  of  course 
before  I  had  done  any  official  act  whatever.  The 
rebellion  thus  begun  soon  ran  into  the  present 
civil  war;  and,  in  certain  respects,  it  began  on 
very  unequal  terms  between  the  parties.  The  in- 
surgents had  been  preparing  for  it  more  than 
thirty  years,  while  the  government  had  taken  no 
steps  to  resist  them.  The  former  had  carefully 
considered  all  the  means  which  could  be  turned  to 
their  account.  It  undoubtedly  was  a  well-pon- 
dered reliance  with  them  that  in  their  own  unre- 
stricted eiforts  to  destroy  Union,  Constitution,  and 
law,  all  together,  the  government  would,  in  great 
degree,  be  restrained  by  the  same  Constitution 


254  CHIPS   FROM   THE    WHITE    HOUSE. 

and  law  from  arresting  their  progress.  Their 
sympathizers  pervaded  all  departments  of  the  gov- 
ernment and  nearly  all  communities  of  the  people. 
From  this  material,  under  cover  of  "  liberty  of 
speech,"  "liberty  of  the  press,"  and  habeas  corpiis, 
they  hoped  to  keep  on  foot  amongst  us  a  most  effi- 
cient corps  of  spies,  informers,  suppliers,  and 
aiders  and  abettors  of  their  cause  in  a  thousand 
ways.  They  knew  that  in  times  such  as  they  were 
inaugurating,  by  the  constitution  itself,  the  habeas 
corpus  might  be  suspended ;  but  they  also  knew 
they  had  friends  who  would  make  a  question  as  to 
who  was  to  suspend  it ;  meanwhile  their  spies  and 
others  might  remain  at  large  to  help  on  their 
cause.  Or  if,  as  has  happened,  the  executive 
should  suspend  the  writ,  without  ruinous  waste  of 
time,  instances  of  arresting  innocent  persons  might 
occur,  as  are  always  likely  to  occur  in  such  cases, 
and  then  a  clamor  could  be  raised  in  regard  to 
this,  which  might  be,  at  least,  of  some  service  to' 
the  insurgent  cause.  It  needed  no  very  keen  per- 
ception to  discover  this  part  of  the  enemy's  pro- 
gramme so  soon  as  by  open  hostilities  their  ma- 
chinery was  fairly  put  in  motion.  Yet,  thoroughly 
imbued  with  a  reverence  for  the  guaranteed  rights 
of  individuals,  I  was  slow  to  adopt  the  strong 
measures  which  by  degrees  I  have  been  forced  to 
regard  as  being  within  the  exceptions  of  the 
Constitution,  and  as  indispensable  to  the  public 
safety 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  255 

I  understand  the  meeting,  whose  resolutions  I 
arn  considering,  to  lie  in  favor  of  suppressing  the 
rebellion  by  military  force  —  by  armies.  Long 
experience  has  shown  that  armies  cannot  be  main- 
tained unless  desertion  shall  be  punished  by  the 
severe  penalty  of  death.  The  case  requires,  and 
the  law  and  the  Constitution  sanction  this  punish- 
ment. Must  I  shoot  a  simple-minded  soldier-boy 
who  deserts,  while  I  must  not  touch  a  hair  of  a 
wily  agitator  who  induces  him  to  desert  ?  This  is 
none  the  less  injurious  when  effected  by  getting  a 
father,  or  brother,  or  friend,  into  a  public  meeting, 
and  there  working  upon  his  feelings  till  he  is  per- 
suaded to  write  the  soldier-boy  that  he  is  fighting 
in  a  bad  cause,  for  a  wicked  administration  of  a 
contemptible  government,  too  weak  to  arrest  and 
punish  him  if  he  shall  desert.  I  think  that  in  such 
a  case  to  silence  the  agitator  and  save  the  boy,  is 
not  only  constitutional,  but  withal  a  great  mercy. 

Nor  am  I  able  to  appreciate  the  danger  appre- 
hended by  the  meeting,  that  the  American  people 
will,  by  means  of  military  arrests  during  the  rebel- 
lion, lose  the  right  of  public  discussion,  the  liberty 
of  speech  and  the  press,  the  law  of  evidence,  trial 
by  jury,  and  habeas  corpus  throughout  the  indefi- 
nite peaceful  future  which,  I  trust,  lies  before 
them,  any  more  than  I  am  able  to  .believe  that  a 
man  could  contract  so  strong  an  appetite  for 


256  CHIPS  FROM  THE   WHITE  HOUSE. 

emetics  during  temporary  illness  as  to  persist  in 
feeding  upon  them  during  the  remainder  of  his 
healthful  life. 

In  giving  the  resolutions  the  earnest  considera- 
tion which  you  request  of  me,  I  cannot  overlook 
the  fact  that  the  meeting  speak  as  "Democrats." 
Nor  can  I  with  full  respect  for  their  known  intel- 
ligence, and  the  fairly  presumed  deliberation  with 
which  they  prepared  these  resolutions,  be  permit- 
ted to  suppose  that  this  occurs  by  accident,  or  in 
any  way  other  than  that  they  prefer  to  designate 
themselves  Democrats  rather  than  American  citi- 
zens. In  this  time  of  national  peril  I  would  have 
preferred  to  meet  you  on  a  level  one  step  higher 
than  any  party  platform,  because  I  am  sure  that 
from  such  more  elevated  position  we  could  do  bet- 
ter battle  for  the  country  we  all  love  than  we  pos- 
sibly can  from  those  lower  ones  where,  from  the 
force  of  habit,  the  prejudices  of  the  past,  and 
selfish  hopes  of  the  future,  we  are  sure  to  expend 
much  of  our  ingenuity  and  strength  in  finding 
fault  with,  and  aiming  blows  at,  each  other.  But, 
since  you  have  denied  me  this,  I  will  yet  be  thank- 
ful, for  the  country's  sake,  that  not  all  Democrats 
have  done  so. 

[Letter  to  James  C.  Cqnkling.] 

August  16,  1863. 

There  are  those  who  are  dissatisfied 

with  me.    To  such  I  would  say,  You  desire  peace, 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  257 

and  you  blame  me  that  we  do  not  have  it.  But 
how  can  we  obtain  it  ?  There  are  but  three  con- 
ceivable ways.  First,  to  suppress  the  rebellion 
by  force  of  arms.  This  I  am  trying  to  do.  Are 
you  for  it  ?  If  you  are  so,  we  are  agreed.  If  you 
are  not  for  it,  a  second  way  is  to  give  up  the 
Union.  I  am  against  this.  If  you  are,  you  should 
say  so  plainly.  If  you  are  not  for  force,  nor  yet 
for  dissolution,  there  only  remains  some  imaginary 
compromise.  I  do  not  believe  that  any  compro- 
mise embracing1  the  maintenance  of  the  Union  is 
now  possible.  All  that  I  learn  leads  to  a  directly 
opposite  belief.  The  strength  of  the  rebellion  is 
its  military,  its  army.  The  army  dominate  all  the 
country,  and  all  the  people  within  its  range.  Any 
offer  of  terms  made  by  any  man  or  men  within 
that  range  in  opposition  to  that  army  is  simply 
nothing  for  the  present ;  because  such  man  or 
men  have  no  power  whatever  to  enforce  their  side 
of  a  compromise,  if  one  were  made  with  them. 

You  dislike  the  Emancipation  Proclamation,  and 
perhaps  would  have  it  retracted.  You  say  it  is  un- 
constitutional. I  think  differently.  I  think  the  Con- 
stitution invests  its  Commander-in-chief  with  the 
law  of  war  in  the  time  of  war.  The  most  that  can 
be  said,  if  so  much,  is  that  slaves  are  property. 
Is  there,  has  there  ever  been,  any  question  that  by 
the  law  of  war  property,  both  of  enemies  and 

17 


CHIPS   FROM   THE   WHITE    HOUSE. 

friends,  may  be  taken  when  needed?  And  is  it 
not  needed  whenever  taking  it  helps  us  and  hurts 
the  enemy  !  Armies  the  world  over  destroy  ene- 
my's property  when  they  cannot  use  it ;  and  even 
destroy  their  own  to  keep  it  from  the  enemy. 
Civilized  belligerents  do  all  in  their  power  to  help 
themselves  and  hurt  the  enemy,  except  a  few 
things  regarded  as  barbarous  or  cruel.  Among 
the  exceptions  are  the  massacre  of  vanquished  foes 
and  non-combatants,  male  and  female. 

But  the  Proclamation,  as  law,  is  valid,  or  is  not 
valid.  If  it  is  valid,  it  cannot  be  retracted  any 
more  than  the  dead  can  be  brought  to  life.  Some 
of  you  profess  to  think  that  its  retraction  would 
operate  favorably  for  the  Union.  Why  better 
after  the  retraction  than  before  the  issue  ?  There 
was  more  than  a  year  and  a  half  of  trial  to  sup- 
press the  rebellion  before  the  Proclamation  was 
issued,  the  last  one  hundred  days  of  which  passed 
under  an  explicit  notice  that  it  was  coming,  unless 
averted  by  those  in  revolt  returning  to  their 
allegiance.  The  war  has  certainly  progressed  as 
favorably  for  us  since  the  issue  of  the  Proclamation 
as  before 

You  say  you  will  not  fight  to  free  negroes. 
Some  of  them  seem  to  be  willing  to  fight  for  you. 
But  no  matter.  Fight  you  then  exclusively  to 
save  the  Union.  I  issued  the  Proclamation  on 
purpose  to  aid  you  in  saving  the  Union. 


ABRAHAM   LINCOLN.  259 

Whenever  we  shall  have  conquered  all  resist- 
ance to  the  Union,  if  I  shall  urge  you  to  continue 
fighting,  it  will  be  an  apt  time  then  for  you  to  de- 
clare that  you  will  not  light  to  free  negroes. 

I  thought  that  in  your  struggle  for  the  Union,  to 
whatever  extent  the  negroes  should  cease  helping 
the  enemy,  to  that  extent  it  weakened  the  enemy 
in  his  resistance  to  you.  Do  you  think  differently? 
I  thought  that  whatever  negroes  can  be  got  to  do 
as  soldiers  leaves  just  so  much  less  for  white  sol- 
diers to  do  in  saving  the  Union.  Does  it  appear 
otherwise  to  you?  But  negroes,  like  other  peo- 
ple, act  upon  motives.  Why  should  they  do  any- 
thing for  us  if  we  will  do  nothing  for  them  ?  If 
they  stake  their  lives  for  us  they  must  be 
prompted  by  the  strongest  motive,  even  the 
promise  of  their  freedom.  And  the  promise,  be- 
ing made,  must  be  kept. 

The  signs  look  better.  The  Father  of  Waters 
again  goes  unvexed  to  the  sea.  Thanks  to  the 
great  North-west  for  it.  Nor  yet  wholly  to  them. 
Three  hundred  miles  up  they  met  New  England, 
Empire,  Keystone,  and  Jersey  hewing  their  way 
right  and  left.  The  sunny  South,  too,  in  more 
colors  than  one,  also  lent  a  hand.  On  the  spot 
their  part  of  the  history  was  jotted  down  in  black 
and  white.  The  job  was  a  great  national  one,  and 
let  none  be  banned  who  bore  an  honorable  part  in 
it.  And  while  those  who  have  cleared  the  great 


260  CHIPS   FROM   THE   WHITE   HOUSE. 

river  may  well  be  proud,  even  that  is  not  all.  It 
is  hard  to  say  thut  anything  has  been  more  bravely 
or  better  done  than  at  Antietam,  Murfreesboro, 
Gettysburg,  and  on  many  fields  of  lesser  note. 

Nor  must  Uncle  Sam's  web-foot  be  forgotten. 
At  all  the  waters'  margins  they  have  been  present, 
not  only  on  the  deep  sea,  the  broad  bay,  and  the 
rapid  river,  but  also  up  the  narrow,  muddy 
bayou,  and  wherever  the  ground  was  a  little 
damp,  they  have  been  and  made  their  tracks. 

Thanks  to  all.  For  the  great  Republic,  —  for 
the  principles  by  which  it  lives  and  keeps  alive  for 
man's  vast  future,  —  thanks  to  all. 

Peace  does  not  appear  so  distant  as  it  did.  I 
hope  it  will  soon  come,  and  come  to  stay,  and  so 
come  as  to  be  worth  keeping  in  all  future  time. 
It  will  then  have  been  proved  that  among  freemen 
there  can  be  no  successful  appeal  from  the  ballot 
to  the  bullet,  and  that  they  who  take  such  appeal 
are  sure  to  lose  their  case,  and  pay  the  cost. 

And  then  there  will  be  some  black  men  who  can 
remember  that,  with  silent  tongue,  and  clenched 
teeth,  and  steady  eye,  and  well-poised  bayonet, 
they  have  helped  mankind  on  to  this  great  con- 
summation, while  I  fear  there  will  be  some  white 
men  unable  to  forget  that,  with  malignant  heart 
and  deceitful  speech,  they  have  striven  to  hin- 
der it. 

Still,  let  us  not  be  over  sanguine  of  a  speedy 


ABRAHAM   LINCOLN.  261 

final  triumph.  Let  us  be  quite  sober.  Let  us 
diligently  apply  the  means,  never  doubting  that  a 
just  God,  in  his  own  good  time,  will  give  us  the 
rightful  result. 

[To  Mr.  Colfax,  in  the  winter  of  1863,  the  morning  after 
unfavorable  news  from  the  army.] 

How  willingly  would  I  exchange  places  to-day 
with  the  soldier  who  sleeps  on  the  ground  in  the 
Army  of  the  Potomac. 

[From  his  third  Annual  Message  to  Congress,  December  8, 
1863.] 

When  Congress  assembled  a  year  ago, 

the  war  had  already  lasted  nearly  twenty  months, 
and  there  had  been  many  conflicts  on  both  land  and 
sea  with  varying  results.  The  rebellion  had  been 
pressed  back  into  reduced  limits  ;  yet  the  tone  of 
public  feeling  and  opinion,  at  home  and  abroad, 
was  not  satisfactory.  With  other  signs,  the  popu- 
lar election,  then  just  passed,  indicated  uneasiness 
among  ourselves,  while  amid  much'  that  was  cold 
and  menacing,  the  kindest  words  coming  from  Eu- 
rope were  uttered  in  accents  of  pity  that  we  were 
too  blind  to  surrender  a  hopeless  cause. 

[From  a  Speech  after  his  re-election,  November  10,  1864.] 

So  long  as  I  have  been  here  I  have  not  willingly 
planted  a  thorn  in  any  man's  bosom.  While  I  am 


CHIPS    FROM   THE   WHITE    HOUSE. 

deeply  sensible  of  the  high  compliment  of  a  re- 
election, and  duly  grateful,  I  trust,  to  Almighty 
God  for  having  directed  my  countrymen  to  a  right 
conclusion,  as  I  think,  for  their  own  good,  it  adds 
nothing  to  my  satisfaction  that  any  other  man  may 
be  disappointed  or  pained  by  the  result. 

[To  a  Committee  of  the  New  York  "Workingrnen's  Republi- 
can Association,  March  21,  1864.] 

The  strongest  bond  of  human  sympathy, 

outside  of  the  family  relation,  should  be  one  unit- 
ing all  working  people,  of  all  nations,  tongues,  and 
kindreds.  Nor  should  this  lead  to  a  war  upon 
property  or  the  owners  of  property.  Property  is 
the  fruit  of  labor;  property  is  desirable,  is  a  posi- 
tive good  in  the  world.  That  some  should  be  rich 
shows  that  others  may  become  rich,  and  hence  is 
just  encouragement  to  independence  and  enter- 
prise. Let  not  him  who  is  houseless  pull  down 
the  house  of  another,  but  let  him  labor  diligently 
and  build  one  for  himself;  thus  by  example  as- 
suring that  his  own  shall  be  safe  from  violence 
when  built. 

[From  a  letter  to  Colonel  Hodges,  of  Kentucky.] 

WASHINGTON,  April  4,  1864. 

You  ask  me  to  put  in  writing  the  substance  of 
what  I  verbally  said  the  other  day  in  your  pres- 
ence to  Governor  Branilette  and  Senator  Dixon. 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  263 

It  was  about  as  follows :  "I  am  naturally  anti- 
slavery.  If  slavery  is  not  wrong,  nothing  is 
wrong.  I  cannot  remember  when  I  did  not  so 
think  and  feel,  and  yet  I  have  never  understood 
that  the  Presidency  conferred  upon  me  an  unre- 
stricted right  to  act  officially  upon  this  judgment 
and  feeling.  It  was  in  the  oath  I  took  that  I  would 
to  the  best  of  my  ability  preserve,  protect,  and 
defend  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States.  I 
could  not  take  the  office  without  taking  the  oath. 
Kor  was  it  in  my  view  that  I  might  take  an  oath 
to  get  power,  and  break  the  oath  in  using  the 
power.  I  understand,  too,  that  in  ordinary  and 
civil  administration  this  oath  even  forbids  me  to 
practically  indulge  my  primary  abstract  judgment 
on  the  moral  question  of  slavery.  I  had  publicly 
declared  this  at  many  times  and  in  many  ways. 
And  I  aver  that,  to  this  day,  I  have  done  no  offi- 
cial act  in  mere  deference  to  my  abstract  judgment 
and  feeling  on  slavery.  I  did  understand,  how- 
ever, that  my  oath  to  preserve  the  Constitution  to 
the  best  of  my  ability  imposed  upon  me  the  duty 
of  preserving,  by  every  indispensable  means,  that 
Government  —  that  nation  —  of  which  the  Consti- 
tution was  the  organic  law.  Was  it  possible  to 
lose  the  nation,  and  yet  preserve  the  Constitution  ? 
By  general  law,  life  and  limb  must  be  protected ; 
yet  often  a  limb  must  be  amputated,  to  save  a  life ; 


264  CHIPS   FROM   THE   WHITE    HOUSE. 

but  a  life  is  never  wisely  given  to  save  a  limb.  I 
felt  that  measures,  otherwise  unconstitutional, 
might  become  lawful  by  becoming  indispensable  to 
the  preservation  of  the  Constitution,  through  the 
preservation  of  the  nation.  Eight  or  wrong,  I  as- 
sumed this  ground ;  and  now  avow  it.  I  could 
not  feel  that,  to  the  best  of  my  ability,  I  had  even 
tried  to  preserve  the  Constitution,  if,  to  save 
slavery,  or  any  minor  matter,  I  should  permit  the 
wreck  of  government,  country,  and  constitution 
all  together.  ...  I  add  a  word  whicli  was  not  in 
the  verbal  conversation.  In  telling  this  talc,  I  at- 
tempt no  compliments  to  my  own  sagacity.  I 
claim  not  to  have  controlled  events,  but  confess 
plainly  that  events  have  controlled  me.  Now  at 
the  end  of  three  years'  struggle  the  nation's  con- 
dition is  not  what  either  party  or  any  man  devised 
or  expected.  God  alone  can  claim  it.  Whither 
it  is  tending  seems  plain.  If  God  now  wills  the 
removal  of  a  great  wrong,  and  wills  also  that  we 
of  the  North,  as  well  as  you  of  the  South,  shall 
pay  fairly  for  our  complicity  in  that  wrong,  impar- 
tial history  will  find  therein  new  causes  to  attest 
and  revere  the  justice  and  goodness  of  God." 


ABRAHAM   LINCOLN.  265 


[From   Carpenter's   "Six  Months   at  the   White  House," 

1865.] 

I  put  the  draft  of  the  Emancipation  Proclama- 
tion* aside,  waiting  for  a  victory.  Well,  the  next 
news  we  had  was  of  Pope's  disaster  at  Bull  Run. 
Things  looked  darker  than  ever.  Finally  came 
the  week  of  the  battle  of  Antietam  [September  17, 
1862] .  I  determined  to  wait  no  longer.  The 
news  came,  I  think,  on  Monday,  that  the  advan- 
tage was  on  our  side.  I  was  then  staying  at  the 
Soldiers'  Home.  Here  I  finished  writing  the  sec- 
ond draft  of  the  proclamation ;  came  up  on  Satur- 
day ;  called  the  cabinet  together  to  hear  it,  and  it 
was  published  the  following  Monday.  I  made  a 
solemn  vow  before  God,  that  if  General  Lee  was 
driven  back  from  Maryland,  I  would  crown  the 
result  by  the  declaration  of  freedom  to  the  slaves. 


As  affairs  have  turned,  it  is  the  central  act  of 
my  administration,  and  the  great  event  of  the 
nineteenth  century. 

[From  Noah  Brooks's  "  Reminiscences."] 

I  should  be  the  most  presumptuous  blockhead 
upon  this  footstool,  if  I,  for  one  day,  thought  that 
I  could  discharge  the  duties  which  have  come  upon 

*  The  original  draft  was  prepared  in  the  July  preceding 
when  the  Federal  forces  were  in  the  midst  of  reverses. 


266  CHIPS   FKOM   THE    WHITE    HOUSE. 

me  since  I  came  into  this  place,  without  the  aid 
and  enlightenment  of  One,  who  is  stronger  and 
wiser  than  all  others. 


[From  "  Six  Months,"  &c.] 

I  have  never  united  myself  to  any  church,  be- 
cause I  have  found  difficulty  in  giving  my  assent, 
without  mental  reservation,  to  the  long,  compli- 
cated statements  of  Christian  doctrine  which  char- 
acterize their  Articles  of  Belief  and  Confessions  of 
Faith.  When  any  church  will  inscribe  over  its 
altar,  as  its  sole  qualification  for  membership,  the 
Saviour's  condensed  statement  of  the  substance 
of  both  law  and  gospel,  "  Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord 
thy  God  with  all  thy  heart,  and  with  all  thy  soul, 
and  with  all  thy  mind,  and  thy  neighbor  as  thy- 
self," that  church  will  I  join  with  all  my  heart  and 
all  my  soul.* 

You  say  your  husband  is  a  religious  man  ;  tell 
him,  when  you  meet  him,  that  I  say  I  am  not 
much  of  a  judge  of  religion,  but  that,  in  my  opin- 
ion, the  religion  which  sets  men  to  rebel  and  fight 
against  their  government,  because,  as  they  think, 
that  government  does  not  sufficiently  help  some 
men  to  eat  their  bread  in  the  sweat  of  other  men's 

*  Said  to  Hon.  H.  C.  Deming. 


ABRAHAM   LINCOLN".  267 

faces,  is  not  the  sort  of  religion  upon  which  people 
can  get  to  heaven.* 

Here  are  twenty-three  ministers,  [of  Spring- 
field, Illinois,]  of  different  denominations,  and  all 
of  them  are  against  me  j-  but  three ;  and  here  are 
a  great  many  prominent  members  of  the  churches, 
a  very  large  majority  are  against  me.  Mr.  Bate- 
man,  I  am  not  a  Christian,  —  God  knows  I  would 
be  one,  — but  I  have  carefully  read  the  Bible,  and 
I  do  not  so  understand  this  book.J  These  men 
well  know  that  I  am  for  freedom  in  the  Territories, 
freedom  everywhere  as  free  as  the  constitution  and 
the  laws  will  permit,  and  that  my  opponents  are 
for  slavery.  They  know  this,  and  yet,  with  this 
book  in  their  hands,  in  the  light  of  which  human 
bondage  cannot  live  a  moment,  they  are  going  to 
vote  against  me ;  I  do  not  understand  it  at 
all 

Doesn't  it  appear  strange  that  men  can  ignore 
the  moral  aspect  of  this  contest?  A  revelation 
could  not  make  it  plainer  to  me  that  slavery  or 
the  government  must  be  destroyed.  The  future 
would  be  something  awful,  as  I  look  at  it,  but  for 
this  rock  on  which  I  stand,  [alluding  to  the  Testa- 

*  Said  to  a  lady  from  Tennessee,  who  asked  the  release 
of  her  husband,  N.  Brook,  held  as  prisoner  of  war. 
f  In  the  canvass  for  United  States  senator. 
J  He  had  in  his  hand  a  copy  of  the  New  Testament. 


CHIPS   FROM   THE   WHITE   HOUSE. 

ment,  which  he  still  held  in  his  hand,]  especially 
with  the  knowledge  of  how  these  ministers  are 
going  to  vote.  It  seems  as  if  God  had  borne  with 
this  thing  [slavery]  until  the  very  teachers  of  reli- 
gion had  come  to  defend  it  from  the  Bible,  and  to 
claim  for  it  a  divine  character  and  sanction ;  and 
now  the  cup  of  iniquity  is  full,  and  the  vials  of 
wrath  will  be  poured  out.* 

.  [With  reference  to  a  remark  made  by  a  lady :  "  Some  men 
seem  able  to  do  what  they  wish  in  any  position,  being 
eqnal  to  them  all,"  Mr.  Lincoln  replied]  : 

Versatility  is  an  injurious  possession,  since  it 
can  never  be  greatness.  It  misleads  you  in  your 
calculations  from  its  very  agreeability,  and  it  inev- 
itably disappoints  you  in  any  great  trust  from  its 
want  of  depth.  A  versatile  man,  to  be  safe  from 
execration,  should  never  soar ;  mediocrity  is  sure 
of  detection.  c. 

There  is  no  more  dangerous  or  expensive  anal- 
ysis than  that  of  trying  a  man.  c. 

« 

[From  an  ai'ticle  in  the  New  York  Citizen,  by  Colonel 
Charles  G.  Ilalpine,  containing  an  account  of  an  inter- 
view with  President  Lincoln.  The  reference  is  to  pres- 
idential receptions.] 

But  the  office  of  President  is  essentially 

a  civil  one.     For  myself,  I  feel  —  though  the  tax 

*  Said  privately  to  Mr.  Newton  Bateman,  Superintendent 
for  Public  Institutions  for  the  State  of  Illinois,  residing  at 
Springfield.  —  Holland's  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 


ABRAHAM   LINCOLN.  2G9 

on  my  time  is  heavy  —  that  no  hours  of  my  day 
are  better  employed  than  those  which  thus  bring 
me  again  within  the  direct  contact  and  atmosphere 
of  the  average  of  our  whole  people.  Men  moving 
only  in  an  official  circle  are  apt  to  become  merely 
official  —  not  to  say  arbitrary  — in  their  ideas,  and 
are  apter  and  apter,  with  each  passing  day,  to  for- 
get that  they  only  hold  power  in  a  representative 
capacity.  Now  this  is  all  wrong.  I  go  into  these 
promiscuous  receptions  of  all  who  claim  to  have 
business  with  me  twice  each  week,  and  every  ap- 
plicant for  audience  has  to  take  his  turn,  as  if 
waiting  to  be  shaved  in  a  barber's  shop.  Many 
of  the  matters  brought  to  my  notice  are  utterly 
frivolous,  but  others  are  of  more  or  less  impor- 
tance, and  all  seem  to  renew  in  me  a  clearer  and 
more  vivid  image  of  that  great  popular  assemblage 
out  of  which  I  sprung,  and  to  which,  at  the  end 
of  two  years,  I  must  return.  I  tell  you  that  I 
call  these  receptions  my  public-opinion  baths;  for 
I  have  but  little  time  to  'read  the  papers,  and 
gather  public  opinion  that  way  ;  and  though  they 
may  not  be  pleasant,  in  all  their  particulars,  the 
effect,  as  a  whole,  is  renovating  and  invigorating 
to  my  perceptions  of  responsibility  and  duty. 

[In  reply  to  the  remark  of  a  clergyman  that  he  "  hoped  the 
Lord  was  on  our  side,"  Mr.  Lincoln  said]  : 

I  am  not  at  all  concerned  about  that,  for  I  know 
that  the  Lord  is  always  on  the  side  of  the  right. 


270  CHIPS   FROM   THE   WHITE    HOUSE. 

But  it  is  ray  constant  anxiety  and  prayer  that  I 
and  this  nation  should  be  on  the  Lord's  side.     c. 

[After  the  repeal  of  the  Fugitive-slave  law,  in  June,  1864, 
Mr.  Lincoln  said]  : 

"  There  have  been  men  base  enough  to  propose 
to  me  to  return  to  slavery  our  black  warriors  of 
Port  Hudson  and  Olustee,  and  thus  win  the  respect 
of  the  masters  they  fought.  Should  I  do  so,  I 
should  deserve  to  be  damned  in  time  and  eternity. 
Come  what  will,  I  will  keep  my  faith  with  friend  and 
foe.  My  enemies  pretend  I  am  noAV  carrying  on 
this  war  for  the  sole  purpose  of  abolition.  So  long 
as  I  am  President  it  shall  be  carried  on  for  the  sole 
purpose  of  restoring  the  Union ;  but  no  human 
power  can  subdue  this  rebellion  without  the  use 
of  the  emancipation  policy,  and  every  other  policy 
calculated  to  weaken  the  moral  and  physical  forces 
of  the  rebellion." 

[In  the  Annual  Message  to  Congress,  December  6, 18C4,  Mr. 
Lincoln  said]  : 

"In  presenting  the  abandonment  of  armed  re- 
sistance to  the  national  authority  on  the  part  of 
the  insurgents  as  the  only  indispensable  condition 
to  ending  the  war  on  the  part  of  the  government, 
I  retract  nothing  heretofore  said  as  to  slavery. 

"  I  repeat  the  declaration  made  a  year  ago,  that 
while  I  remain  in  my  present  position  I  shall  not 
attempt  to  retract  or  modify  the  Emancipation 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  271 

Proclamation.  Nor  shall  I  return  to  slavery  any 
person  who  is  free  by  the  terms  of  that  proclama- 
tion or  by  any  of  the  acts  of  Congress.  If  the 
people  should,  by  whatever  mode  or  means,  make 
it  an  executive  duty  to  re-enslave  such  persons, 
another,  and  not  I,  must  be  their  instrument  to 
perform  it.  In  stating  a  single  condition  of  peace, 
I  mean  simply  to  say  that  the  war  will  cease  on 
the  part  of  the  government  whenever  it  shall  have 
ceased  on  the  part  of  those  who  began  it." 

[Of  his  second  inaugural  address,  the  London  Spectator 
said :  "  We  cannot  read  it  without  a  renewed  conviction  that 
it  is  the  noblest  political  document  known  to  history,  and 
should  have  for  the  nation  and  the  statesmen  he  left  behind 
him  something  of  a  sacred  and  almost  prophetic  character. 
Surely,  none  was  ever  written  under  a  stronger  sense  of  the 
reality  of  God's  government.  And  certainly  none  written 
in  a  period  of  passionate  conflict  ever  so  completely  ex- 
cluded the  partiality  of  victorious  faction,  and  breathed 
so  pure  a  strain  of  mingled  justice  and  mercy." 

"  No  statement  of  the  true  objects  of  the  war  more  com- 
plete than  this  has  ever  been  made.  It  includes  them  all  — 
Nationality,  Liberty,  Equal  Rights,  and  Self-Government. 
These  are  the  principles  for  which  the  Union  soldier  fought, 
and  which  it  was  his  aim  to  maintain  and  to  perpetuate."  — 
President  Hayes,  September,  1878. 

Of  Mr.  Lincoln's  second  inaugural,  M.  Edouard  Labou- 
layesaid:  "His  inaugural  address  shows  us  what  progress 
had  been  made  in  his  soul.  This  piece  of  familiar  elo- 
quence is  a  masterpiece ;  it  is  the  testament  of  a  patriot. 
...  I  do  not  believe  that  any  eulogy  of  the  President 


272  CHIPS   FROM   THE   WHITE   HOUSE. 

would  equal  this  page,  in  which  he  has  depicted  himself  in 
all  his  greatness  and  in  all  his  simplicity."] 

[Second  Inaugural  Address,  March  4,  1865.] 

Fellow  Countrymen :  At  this  second  appearing 
to  take  the  oath  of  the  Presidential  office,  there  is 
less  occasion  for  an  extended  address  than  there 
was  at  the  first.  Then  a  statement  somewhat  in 
detail  of  a  course  to  be  pursued  seemed  very 
fitting  and  proper.  Now,  at  the  expiration  of 
four  years,  during  which  public  declarations 
have  been  constantly  called  forth  on  every  point 
and  phase  of  the  great  contest  which  still  absorbs 
the  attenfion  and  engrosses  the  energies  of  the 
nation,  little  that  is  new  could  be  presented. 

The  progress  of  our  arms,  upon  which  all  else 
chiefly  depends,  is  as  well  known  to  the  public  as 
to  myself;  and  it  is,  I  trust,  reasonably  satisfactory 
and  encouraging  to  all.  With  high  hope  for  the 
future,  no  prediction  in  regard  to  it  is  ventured. 

On  the  occasion  corresponding  to  this,  four 
years  ago,  all  thoughts  were  anxiously  directed 
to  an  impending  civil  war.  All  dreaded  it ;  all 
sought  to  avoid  it.  While  the  inaugural  address 
was  being  delivered  from  this  place,  devoted  alto- 
gether to  saving  the  Union  without  war,  insurgent 
agents  were  in  the  city,  seeking  to  destroy  it  with- 
out war,  —  seeking  to  dissolve  the  Union  and 
divide  the  effects  by  negotiation.  Both  parties 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  273 

deprecated  war ;  but  one  of  them  would  make  war 
rather  than  let  the  nation  survive,  and  the  other 
would  accept  war  rather  than  let  it  perish ;  and 
the  war  came. 

One  eighth  of  the  whole  population  were  colored 
slaves,  not  distributed  generally  over  the  Union, 
but  localized  in  the  Southern  part  of  it.  These 
slaves  constituted  a  peculiar  and  powerful  interest. 
All  knew  that  this  interest  was  somehow  the  cause 
of  the  war.  To  strengthen,  perpetuate,  and  ex- 
tend this  interest,  was  the  object  for  which  the 
insurgents  would  rend  the  Union,  even  by  war, 
while  the  government  claimed  no  right  to  do  more 
than  to  restrict  the  territorial  enlargement  of  it. 

Neither  party  expected  for  the  war  the  magni- 
tude or  the  duration  which  it  has  already  attained. 
Neither  anticipated  that  the  cause  of  the  conflict 
might  cease  with,  or  even  before  the  conflict  itself 
should  cease.  Each  looked  for  an  easier  triumph, 
and  a  result  less  fundamental  and  astounding. 

Both  read  the  same  Bible,  and  pray  to  the  same 
God,  and  each  invokes  his  aid  against  the  other. 
It  may  seem  strange  that  any  men  should  dare  to 
ask  a  just  God's  assistance  in  wringing  their  bread 
from  the  sweat  of  other  men's  faces ;  but  let  us 
judge  not,  that  we  be  not  judged.  The  prayer  of 
both  could  not  be  answered.  That  of  neither  has 
been  answered  fully.  The  Almighty  lias  his  own 
purposes.  "Woe  unto  the  world  because  of  of- 

18 


274  CHIPS  TROM  THE  WHITE   HOUSE. 

fences,  for  it  must  needs  be  that  offences  come ; 
but  woe  to  that  man  by  whom  the  offence  cometh." 
If  we  shall  suppose  that  American  slavery  is  one 
of  these  offences  which,  in  the  providence  of  God, 
must  needs  come,  but  which,  having  continued 
through  his  appointed  time,  he  now  wills  to  re- 
move, and  that  he  gives  to  both  North  and  South 
this  terrible  war  as  the  woe  due  to  those  by  whom 
the  offence  came,  shall  we  discern  therein  any  de- 
parture from  those  divine  attributes  which  the 
believers  in  a  living  God  always  ascribe  to  him  ? 

Fondly  do  we  hope,  fervently  do  we  pray,  that 
this  mighty  scourge  of  war  may  soon  pass  away. 
Yet  if  God  wills  that  it  continue  until  all  the 
wealth  piled  by  the  bondman's  two  hundred  and 
fifty  years  of  unrequited  toil  shall  be  sunk,  and 
until  every  drop  of  blood  drawn  with  the  lash 
shall  be  paid  with  another  drawn  with  the  sAvord  ; 
as  was  said  three  thousand  years  ago,  so  still  it 
must  be  said,  "The  judgments  of  the  Lord  are 
true  and  righteous  altogether." 

With  malice  toward  none,  with  charity  for  all, 
with  firmness  in  the  right,  as  God  gives  us  to  see 
the  right,  let  us  strive  on  to  finish  the  work  we 
arc  in,  to  bind  up  the  nation's  wounds,  to  care  for 
him  who  shall  have  borne  the  battle,  and  for  his 
widow  and  orphans,  to  do  all  which  may  achieve 
and  cherish  a  just  and  a  lasting  peace  among  our- 
selves and  with  all  nations. 


ABRAHAM   LINCOLN.  275 

[From  an  Address,  March  7,  1-865.] 

I  have  always  thought  that  all  men  should  be 
free ;  but  if  any  should  be  slaves,  it  should  be 
first  those  who  desire  it  for  themselves,  and  sec- 
ondly, those  who  desire  it  for  others. 

I  have  been  driven  many  times  to  my  knees  by 
the  overwhelming  conviction  that  I  had  nowhere 
else  to  go.  My  own  wisdom,  and  that  of  all  about 
me,  seemed  insufficient  for  that  day.* 

I  should  be  the  most  presumptuous  blockhead 
upon  this  footstool,  if  I  for  one  day  thought  that 
I  could  discharge  the  duties  which  have  come  upon 
me  since  I  came  into  this  place,  without  the  aid 
and  enlightenment  of  One  who  is  wiser  and 
stronger  than  all  others. f 


[The  Emancipation  Proclamation  in  the  Cabinet.  From 
the  Diaiy  of  Secretary  Salmon  P.  Chase,  September  22, 
1862.] 

Gentlemen, — I  have,  as  you  are  aware,  thought  a 
great  deal  about  the  relation  of  this  war  to  sLrrery, 
and  you  all  remember  that,  several  weeks  ago,  I 
read  to  you  an  order  I  had  prepared  upon  the  sub- 
ject, which,  on  account  of  objections  made  by 
some  of  you,  was  not  issued.  Ever  since  then 

*  From  Holland's  "  Life  of  Lincoln." 

f  The  Proclamation  was  issued  January  1,  1863. 


276  CHIPS   FllOM   THE    WHITE    HOUSE. 

my  mind  has  been  occupied  with  this  subject,  and 
I  have  thought  all  along  that  the  time  for  acting 
on  it  might  probably  come.  I  think  the  time  has 
come  now.  I  wish  it  was  a  better  time.  I  wish  that 
we  were  in  a  better  condition.  The  act 'on  of  the 
army  against  the  rebels  has  not  been  quite  what  I 
should  have  best  liked.  But  they  have  been  driven 
out  of  Maryland,  and  Pennsylvania  is  no  longer  in 
danger  of  invasion.  Yv7hen  the  rebel  army  was  at 
Frederick,  I  determined,  as  soon  as  it  should  be 
driven  out  of  Maryland,  to  issue  a  proclamation 
of  emancipation,  such  as  I  thought  most  likely  to 
be  useful.  I  said  nothing  to  any  one,  but  I  made 
a  promise  to  myself  and  [hesitating  a  little]  to 
my  Mjiker.  •  The  rebel  army  is  now  driven  out, 
and  I  am  going  to  fulfil  that  promise.  I  have  got 
you  together  to  hear  what  I  have  written  down. 
I  do  not  wish  your  advice  about  the  main  matter, 
for  that  I  have  determined  for  myself.  This  I  say 
without  intending  anything  but  respect  for  any 
one  of  you.  .But  I  already  know  the  views  of 
each  on  this  question.  They  have  been  heretofore 
expressed,  and  I  have  considered  them  as  thor- 
oughly and  carefully  as  I  can.  What  I  have 
written  is  that  which  my  reflections  have  deter- 
mined me  to  say.  If  there  is  anything  in  the  ex- 
pressions I  use,  or  in  any  minor  matter,  which  any 
one  of  you  thinks  had  best  be  changed,  I  shall  be 
glad  to  receive  your  suggestions.  One  other  ol> 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  277 

serration  I  will  make.  I  know  very  well  that 
many  others  might,  in  this  matter  as  in  others, 
do  better  than  I  can ;  and  if  I  was  satisfied  that 
the  public  confidence  was  more  fully  possessed  by 
any  one  of  them  than  by  me,  and  knew  of  any 
constitutional  way  in  which  he  could  be  put  in  my 
place,  he  should  have  it.  I  would  gladly  yield  it 
to  him.  But  though  I  believe  that  I  have  not  so 
much  of  the  confidence  of  the  people  as  I  had 
sometime  since,  I  do  not  know  that,  all  things  con- 
sidered, any  other  person  has  more ;  and,  however 
this  may  be,  there  is  no  way  in  which  I  can  have 
any  other  man  put  where  I  am.  I  am  here.  I 
must  do  the  best  I  can,  I  bear  the  responsibility 
of  taking  the  course  which  I  feel  I  ought  to  take. 

[From  "  Six  Months,"  etc.] 

Many  of  my  strongest  supporters  urged  eman- 
cipation before  I  thought  it  indispensable,  and,  I 
may  say,  before  I  thought  the  country  ready  for  it. 
It  is  my  conviction,  that,  had  the  proclamntion 
been  issued  even  six  months  earlier  than  it  was, 
public  sentiment  would  not  have  sustained  it. 
Just  so  as  to  the  subsequent  action  in  reference  to 
enlisting  blacks  in  the  Border  States.  The  step, 
taken  sooner,  could  not,  in  my  judgment,  have 
been  carried  out.  A  man  watches  his  pear-tree 
day  after  day,  impatient  for  the  ripening  of  the 
fruit.  Let  him  attempt  to  force  the  process,  and 


278  CHIPS   FROM   THE   WHITE    HOUSE. 

he  may  spoil  both  fruit  and  tree.  But  let  him 
patiently  wait,  and  the  ripe  pear  at  length  falls 
into  his  lap  !  We  have  seen  this  great  revolution 
in  public  sentiment  slowly  but  surely  progressing, 
so  that,  when  final  action  came,  the  opposition  was 
not  strong  enough  to  defeat  the  purpose.  I  can 
now  solemnly  assert  that  I  have  a  clear  conscience 
in  regard  to  my  action  on  this  momentous  ques- 
tion. I  have  done  what  no  man  could  have  helped 
doing,  standing  in  my  place. 

[Dedicatory  Address  at  Gettysburg.*] 
Four   score  and   seven  years  ago   our   fathers 
brought  forth  upon  this  continent  a  new  nation, 
conceived  in  liberty,  and  dedicated  to  the  propo- 
sition that  all  men  are  created  equal. 

Now  we  are  engaged  in  a  great  civil  war,  testing 
whether  that  nation,  or  any  nation  so  conceived 
and  so  dedicated,  can  long  endure.  We  are  met 
on  a  great  battle-field  of  that  war.  We  are  met 
to  dedicate  a  portion  of  it  as  the  final  resting-place 
of  those  who  here  gave  their  lives  that  that  nation 
might  live.  It  is  altogether  fitting  and  proper 
that  wre  should  do  this. 

*  "  His  brief  speech  at  Gettysburg  will  not  easily  bo  sur- 
passed by  words  on  any  recorded  occasion.  This,  and  one 
American  speech,  —  that  of  John  Brown  to  the  court  that 
tried  him,  —  and  part  of  Kossuth's  speech  at  Birmingham, 
can  only  be  compared  with  each  other,  and  with  no  fourth." 
—  R.  W.  Emerson. 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  279 

But  in  a  larger  sense  we  cannot  dedicate,  we 
cannot  consecrate,  we  cannot  hallow  this  ground. 
The  brave  men,  living  and  dead,  who  struggled 
here,  have  consecrated  it  far  above  our  power  to 
add  or  detract.  The  world  will  little  note  nor 
long  remember  what  we  say  here,  but  it  can  never 
forget  what  they  did  here.  It  is  for  us  the  living 
rather  to  be  dedicated  here  to  the  unfinished  work 
that  they  have  thus  far  so  nobly  carried  on.  It 
is  rather  for  us  to  be  here  dedicated  to  the  great 
task  remaining  before  us — that  from  these  honored 
dead  we*  take  increased  devotion  to  the  cause  for 
which  they  here  gave  the  last  full  measure  of 
devotion — that  we  here  highly  resolve  that  the 
dead  shall  not  have  died  in  vain ;  that  the  nation 
shall,  under  God,  have  a  new  birth  of  freedom, 
and  that  the  government  of  the  people,  by  the 
people,  and  for  the  people,  shall  not  perish  from 
the  earth. 

[When  Mr.  Lincoln  had  ended  his  speech,  which 
had  been  preceded  by  a  long  and  eloquent  one  by 
Edward  Everett,  he  turned  and  congratulated  the 
latter  on  having  succeeded  so  well.  "Ah,  Mr. 
Lincoln,"  was  the  reply,  "how  gladly  would  I 
exchange  all  my  one  hundred  pages,  to  have  been 
the  author  of  your  twenty  lines."] 


280  CHIPS   FROM  THE   WHITE   HOUSE. 

EXECUTIVE  MANSION,  WASHINGTON,  July  13,  1863.* 

To  MAJOR  GENERAL  GRANT. 

My  Dear  General :  I  do  not  remember  that 
you  and  I  ever  met  personally.  I  write  this  now 
as  a  grateful  acknowledgment  for  the  almost 
inestimable  service  you  have  done  the  country.  I 
wish  to  say  a  word  further.  When  you  first 
reached  the  vicinity  of  Vicksburg,  I  thought  you 
should  do  what  you  finally  did,  march  the  troops 
across  the  Neck,  run  the  batteries,  with  the  trans- 
ports, and  thus  go  below.  I  never  had  any  faith, 
except  a  general  hope, that  you  knew  better  than  I 
did  ;  that  the  Yazoo  Pass  Expedition,  and  the  like, 
could  succeed.  When  you  got  below,  and  took 
Port  Gibson,  Grand  Gulf  and  vicinity,  I  thought 
you  should  go  down  the  river  and  join  Gen.  Banks ; 
and  when  you  turned  northward,  east  of  the  Big 
Black,  I  feared  it  was  a  mistake.  I  now  wish  to 
make  a  personal  acknowledgment  that  you  were 
right  and  I  was  wrong. 

Yours  very  truly,         A.  LINCOLN. 

[Written  after  the  Battle  of  Chattanooga,  1863.] 

To  GENERAL  GRANT  :  .  .  .  Understanding  that 
your  lodgment  at  Chattanooga  and  at  Knoxville 
is  now  secure,  I  wish  to  tender  you  and  all  under 
your  command  my  more  than  thanks,  my  pro- 

*  After  the  capture  of  Vicksburg. 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  281 

foundest  gratitude  for  the  skill,  courage,  and  per- 
severance with  which  you  and  they,  over  so  great 
difficulties,  have  effected  the  important  object. 
God  bless  you  all. 

[To  General  Grant,  April  30,  1864.] 

LIEUTENANT-GENERAL  GRANT  :  Not  expecting 
to  see  you  before  the  Spring  campaign  opens,  I 
wish  to  express,  in  this  way,  my  entire  satisfaction 
with  what  you  have  done  up  to  this  time,  so  far  as 
I  understand  it.  The  particulars  of  your  plans  I 
neither  know  nor  seek  to  know. 

You  are  vigilant  and  self-reliant,  and,  pleased 
with  this,  I  wish  not  to  obtrude  any  restraints 
or  constraints  upon  }rou.  While  I  am  very  anx- 
ious that  any  great  disaster  or  capture  of  our  men 
in  great  numbers  shall  be  avoided,  I  know  that 
these  points  are  less  likely  to  escape  your  attention 
than  they  would  be  mine.  If  there  be  anything 
wanting  which  is  within  my  power  to  give,  do  not 
fail  to  let  me  know  it.  And  now,  with  a  brave 
army  and  a  just  cause,  may  God  sustain  you. 

[In  reply  to  a  deputation  from  the  National  Union 
League,  June  8,  1864,  who  congratulated  him  upon 
his  re-nomination  for  the  Presidency,  Mr.  Lincoln 
said  :]..."!  have  not  permitted  myself,  gentle- 
men, to  conclude  that  I  am  the  best  man  in  the 
country ;  but  I  am  reminded  in  this  connection  of 


282  CHIPS    FROM   THE   WHITE    HOUSE. 

a  story  of  an  old  Dutch  farmer,  who  remarked  to 
a  companion  once,  that  'it  was  not  best  to  swop 
horses  when  crossing  streams.' " 

[From  a  letter  written  December  11,  1864]  : 

"  You  say  you  are  praying  for  the  war  to  end. 
So  am  I,  but  I  want  it  to  end  right.  God  alone 
knows  how  anxious  I  am  to  see  these  rivers  of 
blood  cease  to  flow ;  but  they  must  flow  until  trea- 
son hides  its  head." 

It  matters  not  to  me  whether  Shakespeare  be 
well  or  ill  acted ;  with  him  the  thought  suffices. 

There  is  one  passage  of  the  play  of  "  Hamlet " 
which  is  very  apt  to  be  slurred  over  by  the  actor, 
or  omitted  altogether,  which  seems  to  me  the 
choicest  part  of  the  play.  It  is  the  soliloquy  of 
the  king  after  the  murder.  It  always  struck  me 
as  one  of  the  finest  touches  of  nature  in  this  world. 

The  opening  of  the  play  of  "  King  Richard  the 
Third "  seems  to  me  often  entirely  misappre- 
hended. It  is  quite  common  for  an  actor  to  come 
upon  the  stage,  and,  in  a  sophomoric  style,  to  be- 
gin with  a  flourish : 

"  Now  is  the  winter  of  our  discontent 
Made  glorious  summer  by  this  sun  of  York, 
And  all  the  clouds  that  lowered  upon  our  house, 
In  the  deep  bosom  of  the  ocean  buried." 


ABKAHAM   LINCOLN.  283 

Now  this  is  all  wrong.  Richard,  remember, 
had  been,  and  was  then,  plotting  the  destruction 
of  his  brothers,  to  make  room  for  himself.  Out- 
wardly, the  most  loyal  to  the  newly-crowned  king, 
secretly,  he  could  scarcely  contain  his  impatience 
at  the  obstacles  still  in  the  wa}'  of  his  own  eleva- 
tion. He  appears  upon  the  stage,  just  after  the 
crowning  of  Edward,  burning  with  repressed  hate 
and  jealousy.  The  prologue  is  the  utterance  of 
the  most  intense  bitterness  and  satire. 

[From  a  letter  written  just  before  the  assassination.] 

I  assure  you  that  as  soon  as  the  business  of  this 
war  is  settled,  the  Indians  shall  have  my  first  at- 
tention ;  and  I  will  not  rest  until  they  shall  have  jus- 
tice with  which  both  you  and  they  will  be  satisfied. 

There  are  some  quaint,  queer,  verses,  written,  I 
think,  by  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes,  entitled,  "  The 
Last  Leaf,"  one  of  which  is  to  me  inexpressibly 
touching : 

"The  mossy  marbles  rest 
On  the  lips  that  ho  has  pressed 

In  their  bloom ; 

And  the  names  he  loved  to  hear 
Have  been  carved  for  many  a  year 
On  the  tomb." 

For  pure  pathos,  in  my  judgment,  there  is  noth- 
ing finer  than  those  six  lines  in  the  English  lan- 
guage. 


284  CHIPS   FROM   THE    WHITE    HOUSE. 


ANDKEW    JOHNSON. 

BORN,  1808 ;  DIED,  1875,  AGED  67.  —  ALDERMAN  AT  GREENVILLE, 
TENN.,  1828.  —  MAYOR,  1830.— IN  THE  STATE  LEGISLATURE, 
1835.  — AGAIN,  1839.  — STATE  SENATOR,  1841.  -  REPRESENTA- 
TIVE TO  CONGRESS,  1843.  —  GOVERNOR  OF  TENNESSEE,  1853. 
—  RE-ELECTED,  1855.  —  UNITED  STATES  SENATOR,  1857.— 
MILITARY  GOVERNOR  OF  TENNESSEE,  18G2.  —  VICE-PRESI- 
DENT, 1805.  — PRESIDENT,  1865-1869. 

[From  a  Speech  in  the  United  States  Senate,  March  2,  1861.] 

SIR,  have  we  reached  a  point  of  time  at 

which  we  dare  not  speak  of  treason  ?  Our  fore- 
fathers talked  about  it ;  they  spoke  of  it  in  the  Con- 
stitution of  the  country  ;  they  defined  what  treason 
is.  Is  it  an  offence,  is  it  a  crime,  is  it  an  insult, 
to  recite  the  Constitution  that  was  made  by  Wash- 
ington and  his  compatriots  ? 

What  does  the  Constitution  define  treason  to 
be  ?  "  Treason  against  the  United  States  shall 
consist  only  in  levying  war  against  them,  or  in 
adhering  to  their  enemies,  giving  them  aid  and 
comfort."  There  it  is  defined  clearly.  .  .  .  Who 
is  it  that  has  been  engaged  in  conspiracies  ?  Who 
is  it  that  has  been  engaged  in  making  war  upon 
the  United  States  ?  Who  is  it  that  has  fired  upon 


ANDREW   JOIIXSOX.  285 

our  flag  ?  Who  is  it  that  has  given  instructions  to 
take  your  arsenals,  to  take  your  forts,  to  take  your 
dock-yards,  to  seize  your  custom-houses,  and  rob 
your  treasuries  ?  Who  is  it  that  has  been  engaged  in 
secret  conclaves,  and  issuing  orders  for  the  seizure 
of  public  property  in  violation  of  the  Constitution 
they  were  sworn  to  support  ?  In  the  language  of 
the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  are  not 
these  who  have  been  engaged  in  this  nefarious 
work  guilty  of  treason?  I  will  now  present  a 
fair  issue,  and  I  hope  it  will  be  fairly  met.  Show 
me  the  man  who  has  been  engaged  in  these  con- 
spiracies ;  show  me  the  man  Avho  has  been  sitting 
in  these  nightly  and  secret  conclaves,  plotting  the 
overthrow  of  the  government ;  show  me  who  has 
fired  upon  our  flag,  has  given  instructions  to  take 
our  forts,  our  custom-houses,  our  arsenals,  and  our 
dock-yards,  and  I  will  show  you  a  traitor !  [Ap- 
plause in  the  galleries,  followed  by  a  demand  to 
have  them  cleared.] 

Mr.  President,  when  I  was  interrupted  ...  I 
was  making  a  general  allusion  to  treason  as  de- 
fined in  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  and 
to  those  who  were  traitors  and  guilty  of  treason 
within  the  scope  and  meaning  of  the  law  and  the 
Constitution.  My  proposition  was,  that  if  they 
would  show  me  who  were  guilty  of  the  offences  I 
have  enumerated,  I  would  show  them  who  were 
the  traitors.  That  being  done,  were  I  the  Presi- 


286  CHIPS   FROM   THE   WHITE    HOUSE. 

dent  of  the  United  States,  I  would  do  as  Thomas 
Jefferson  did  in  1806  with  Aaron  Burr,  who  was 
charged  with  treason  :  I  would  have  them  arreste'd 
and  tried  for  treason ;  and,  if  convicted,  by  the 
Eternal  God,  they  should  suffer  the  penalty  of  the 
law  at  the  hands  of  the  executioner.  Sir,  treason 
must  be  punished. 

[From  a  Speech  at  Nashville,  1864.] 

Slavery  is  dead,  and  you  must  pardon  me  if  I 
do  not  mourn  over  its  dead  body ;  you  can  bury  it 
out  of  sight.  ...  I  desire  that  all  men  shall  have  a 
fair  start  and  an  equal  chance  in  the  race  of  life, 
and  let  him  succeed  who  has  the  most  merit.  I  am 
for  emancipation,  for  two  reasons  :  first,  because  it 
is  right  in  itself;  and  second,  because  in  the  eman- 
cipation of  the  slaves  we  break  down  an  odious  and 
dangerous  aristocracy.  I  think  that  AVC  are  freeing 
more  Avhites  than  blacks  in  Tennessee. 

In  the  support  and  practice  of  correct  principles, 
we  can  never  reach  Avrong  results. 

[Speech,  when  Governor  of  Tennessee,  Nashville,  1864.] 

Colored  Men  of  Nashville :  you  have  all  heard 
of  the  President's  Proclamation,  by  which  he  an- 
nounced to  the  world,  that  the  slaves  in  a  large 
portion  of  the  seceded  states  were  thenceforth  and 
forever  free.  For  certain  reasons,  which  seemed 


ANDREW   JOHNSON.  287 

wise  to  the  President,  the  benefits  of  that  Procla- 
mation did  not  extend  to  you  and  to  your  native 
state.  Many  of  you,  consequently,  were  left  in 
bondage.  The  taskmaster's  scourge  was  not  yet 
broken,  and  the  fetters  still  galled  your  limbs. 
Gradually  this  iniquity  has  been  passing  away ; 
but  the  hour  has  come  when  the  last  vestiges 
of  it  must  be  removed.  Consequently  I,  too, 
without  reference  to  the  President,  or  any  other 
person,  have  a  proclamation  to  make  ;  and,  stand- 
ing here  upon  the  steps  of  the  Capitol,  with  the 
past  history  of  the  state  to  witness,  the  present 
condition  to  guide,  and  its  future  to  encourage  me, 
I,  Andrew  Johnson,  do  hereby  proclaim  freedom, 
full,  broad,  and  unconditional,  to  every  man  in 
Tennessee.  ...  I  speak  now  as  one  who  .feels 
the  world  his  country,  and  all  who  love  equal 
rights  his  friends.^  I  speak,  too,  as  a  citizen  of 
Tennessee.  I  am "kerj/on  my  own  soil ;  and  here 
I  mean  to  stay,  and  fignt  this  great  battle  of  truth 
and  justice  to  the  triumphant  end.  Rebellion  and 
slavery  shall,  by  God's  good  help,  no,  longer  pol- 
lute our  state.  Loyal  men,  whether  white  or 
black,  shall  alone  control  her  destinies ;  and  when 
this  strife,  in  which  we  are  all  engaged,  is  past,  I 
know  we  shall  have  a  better  state  of  things,  and 
shall  all  rejoice  that  honest  labor  shall  have  the 
fruit  of  its  own  industry,  and  that  every  man  has 
a  fair  chance  in  the  race  of  life. 


288  CHIPS   FROM   THE  WHITE   HOUSE. 


[To  a  delegation  of  citizens  of  New  Hampshire,  after  the 
death  of  Mr.  Lincoln.] 

I  have  now,  as  always,  an  abiding  faith  in  the 
ultimate  triumph  of  justice  and  right,  and  I  shall 
seek  the  inspiration  and  guidance  of  this  faith  in 
the  assured  belief  that  the  present  struggle  will 
result  in  the  permanent  establishment  of  our  gov- 
ernment, and  in  making  us  a  free,  united  and 
happy  people.  This  government  is  now  passing 
through  a  fiery,  and,  let  us  hope,  its  last  ordeal,  — 
one  that  will  test  its  powers  of  endurance,  and  will 
determine  whether  it  can  do  what  its  enemies  have 
denied, — suppress  and  punish  treason 

I  know  it  is  easy,  gentlemen,  for  any  one  who  is 
so  disposed,  to  acquire  a  reputation  for  clemency 
and  mercy.  But  the  public  good  imperatively 
requires  a  just  discrimination  in  the  exercise  of 
these  qualities.  What  is  clemency?  What  is 
mercy  ?  It  may  be  considered  merciful  to  relieve 
an  individual  from  pain  and  suffering ;  but  to  re- 
lieve one  from  the  penalty  of  crime  may  be  pro- 
motive  of  national  disaster.  The  American  people 
must  be  taught  to  know  and  understand  that  trea- 
son is  a  crime.  Arson  and  murder  are  crimes,  the 
punishment  of  which  is  the  loss  of  liberty  and  life. 
If,  then,  it  is  right  in  the  sight  of  God  to  take 
away  human  life  for  such  crimes,  what  punishment, 
let  me  ask  you,  should  be  inflicted  upon  him  who 


ANDREW  JOHNSON.  289 

is  guilty  of  the  atrocious  crime  of  assassinating  the 
Chief  Magistrate  of  a  great  people?  I  am  sure 
there  is  no  one  present  who  has  not  the  answer 
ready  upon  his  lips  !  Him,  whom  we  loved,  has 
been  removed  from  our  midst,  by  the  hand  of  a 
ruthless  assassin,  and  his  blessed  spirit  has  gone 
to  that  bourn  whence  no  traveller  returns.  If  his 
murderer  should  suffer  the  severest  penalty  known 
to  the  law,  what  punishment  should  be  inflicted 
upon  the  assassins  who  have  raised  their  daggers 
against  the  life  of  a  nation,  against  the  happiness 
and  lives  of  thirty  millions  of  people  ?  Treason  is 
a  crime,  and  must  be  punished  as  a  crime.  It 
must  not  be  regarded  as  a  mere  difference  of  polit- 
ical opinion.  It  must  not  be  excused  as  an  unsuc- 
cessful rebellion,  to  be  overlooked  and  forgiven. 
It  is  a  crime  before  which  all  other  crimes  sink 
into  insignificance  ;  and  in  saying  this,  it  must  not 
be  considered  that  I  am  influenced  by  angry  or 
revengeful  feelings. 

Of  course,  a  careful  discrimination  must  be 
observed,  for  thousands  have  been  involved  in  this 
rebellion  who  are  only  technically  guilty  of  the 
crime  of  treason.  They  have  been  deluded  and 
deceived,  and  have  been  made  the  victims  of  the 
more  intelligent,  artful,  and  designing  men,  the 
instigators  of  this  monstrous  rebellion.  The  num- 
ber of  this  latter  class  is  comparatively  small. 
The  former  may  stand  acquitted  of  the  crime  of 

19 


290  CHIPS   FROM   THE   WHITE   HOUSE. 

treason  —  the  latter  never ;  the  full  penalty  of 
their  crimes  should  be  visited  upon  them.  To 
the  others  I  would  accord  amnesty,  leniency,  and 
mercy. 


[To  the  1st  Colored  Regiment  of  the  District  of  Columbia, 
October  10,  1865.] 

Liberty  is  not  a  mere  idea,  a  mere  va- 
gary. .  .  .  Liberty  does  not  consist  in  doing  all 
things  as  we  please ;  and  there  can  be  no  liberty 
without  law.  In  a  government  of  freedom  and 
of  liberty,  there  must  be  law,  and  there  must  be 
obedience  and  submission  to  the  law  without  re- 
gard to  color.  Liberty  (and  may  I  not  call  you 
my  countrymen?)  consists  in  the  glorious  privilege 
of  work ;  of  pursuing  the  ordinary  avocations  of 
peace  with  industry  and  with  economy ;  and,  that 
being  done,  all  those  who  have  been  industrious 
and  economical  are  permitted  to  appropriate  and 
enjoy  the  products  of  their  own  labor.  This  is 
one  of  the  great  blessings  of  freedom 

Henceforth  each  and  all  of  you  must  be  meas- 
ured according  to  your  merit.  If  one  man  is 
more  meritorious  than  another,  they  cannot  be 
equals  ;  and  he  is  the  most  exalted  that  is  the  most 
meritorious,  without  regard  to  color.  And  the 
idea  of  having  a  law  passed  in  the  morning  that 
would  make  a  white  man  a  black  man  before  night, 


ANDREW  JOHNSON.  291 

and  a  black  man  a  white  man  before  day,  is  ab- 
surd. That  is  not  the  standard.  It  is  your  own 
conduct ;  it  is  your  own  merit ;  it  is  the  develop- 
ment of  your  own  talents  and  of  your  own  intel- 
lectuality and  moral  qualities. 


292  CHIPS   FROM   THE   WHITE   HOUSE. 


ULYSSES  S.   GRANT. 

BOEN,  1822.  —  ENTERED  WEST  POINT  MILITARY  ACADEMY, 
1839.  —  LIEUTENANT  IN  THE  ARMY,  1845.  — IN  THE  MEXICAN 
WAR,  1846-1847.  —  CAPTAIN,  1847.  —  ENGAGED  IN  BUSINESS, 
1854.  — CAPTAIN  OF  VOLUNTEERS,  18C1.  —  COLONEL,  JUNE  17, 
1861.  —  BRIGADIER-GENERAL,  AUGUST  23,  1SC1.  —  COMMAN- 
DER OF  THE  MILITARY  DISTRICT  OF  CAIRO,  DECEMBER, 
1861.  — TOOK  FORT  DONELSON,  FEBRUARY  15,  18C2.  — COM- 
MANDER OF  THE  DEPARTMENT  OF  WESTERN  TENNESSEE, 
JULY,  1862.  — TOOK  VICKSBURG,  JULY  4,  18G3.  —MAJOR-GEN- 
ERAL, 1863.  —  COMMANDER  OF  THE  MILITARY  DISTRICT  OF 
THE  MISSISSIPPI,  OCTOBER,  1863.  —  LIEUTENANT-GENERAL, 
MARCH  1,  18G4.  —  ASSUMED  COMMAND  OF  THE  ARMIES  OF 
THE  UNITED  STATES,  MARCH  17,  1864.  —  CAPTAIN-GENERAL, 
APRIL,  1865.  — SECRETARY  OF  WAR  "AD  INTERIM,"  AUGUST 
12,  1867.— PRESIDENT,  1869-1877. 

[At  the  outbreak  of  the  rebellion,  18G1,  he  said  to  a  friend]  : 

THE  government  has  educated  me  for  the  army. 
What  I  am,  I  owe  to  my  country.  I  have  served 
her  through  one  war,  and,  live  or  die,  will  serve 
her  through  this.  —  Phelps. 

[To  the  citizens  of  Paducah,  Kentucky,  September  6,  1861.] 

I  have  come  among  you  not  as  an  enemy,  but 
as  your  fellow-citizen ;  not  to  maltreat  or  annoy 
you,  but  to  respect  and  enforce  the  rights  of  all 
loyal  citizens.  An  enemy  in  rebellion  against  our 


ULYSSES    S.    GRANT.  293 

constitutional  government  has  taken  possession  of, 
and  planted  its  guns  on  the  soil  of  Kentucky,  and 
fired  upon  you.  Columfeus  and  Hickman  are  in 
his  hands.  He  is  moving  upon  your  city.  I  ani 
here  to  defend  you  against  this  enemy,  to  assert 
the  authority  and  sovereignty  of  your  government. 
I  have  nothing  to  do  with  opinions.  I  shall  deal 
only  with  armed  rebellion  and  its  aiders  and  abet- 
tors. You  can  pursue  your  usual  avocations 
without  fear.  The  strong  arm  of  the  government 
is  here  to  protect  its  friends,  and  punish  its  ene- 
mies. Whenever  it  is  manifest  that  you  are  able 
to  defend  yourselves,  and  to  maintain  the  authority 
of  the  government,  and  protect  the  rights  of  loyal 
citizens,  I  shall  withdraw  the  forces  under  my 
command. 

[General  Buckner,  of  the  Confederate  army  at  Fort  Donel- 
son,  having  sent  a  letter  to  General  Grant,  February  16, 
1862,  proposing  "  the  appointment  of  Commissioners,  to 
agree  upon  terms  of  capitulation,"  General  Grant  re- 
plied the  same  day.] 

Yours  of  this  date  proposing  an  armistice  and 
the  appointment  of  commissioners  to  settle  on  the 
terms  of  capitulation,  is  just  received. 

No  terms,  except  unconditional  and  immediate 
surrender,  can  be  accepted. 

I  propose  to  move  immediately  on  your  works. 
I  am,  very  respectfully, 

Your  obedient  servant. 


294  CHIPS   FROM   THE   WHITE   HOUSE. 


[After  Mr.  Lincoln's  Emancipation  Proclamation,  General 
Grant  issued  the  following  order]  : 

MILLIKEN'S  BEND,  LOUISIANA. 

Corps,  division,  and   post   commanders 

will  afford  all  facilities  for  the  completion  of  the 
negro  regiments  now  organizing  in  this  depart- 
ment. Commissioners  will  issue  supplies,  and 
quarter-masters  will  furnish  stores,  on  the  same 
requisitions  and  returns  as  are  required  for  other 
troops.  It  is  expected  that  all  commanders  will 
especially  exert  themselves  in  carrying  out  the 
policy  of  the  Administration,  not  only  in  organiz- 
ing colored  regiments  and  rendering  them  efficient, 
but  also  in  removing  prejudices  against  them. 


[From  a  letter  to  General  Banks,  with  reference  to  Vicks- 
burg,  May  25,  1863.] 

.....  I  feel  that  my  force  is  abundantly  strong 
to  hold  the  enemy  where  he  is,  or  to  whip  him 
should  he  come  out.  The  place  is  so  strongly  for- 
tified, however,  that  it  cannot  be  taken  without 
either  a  great  sacrifice  of  life  or  by  a  regular  siege. 
I  have  determined  to  adopt  the  latter  course,  and 
save  my  men. 


ULYSSES    S.    GRANT.  295 

[To  a  proposition  of  General  Pemberton,  July  3,  1863,  for 
"  an  armistice  for  —  hours,  with  a  view  to  arranging 
terms  for  the  capitulation  of  Vicksburg,  ...  to  save  the 
further  effusion  of  blood,"  General  Grant  replied  the 
same  day] : 

GENERAL  :  Your  note  of  this  date  [July  3] 
just  received  proposes  an  armistice  of  several 
hours  for  the  purpose  of  arranging  terms  of  capitu- 
lation through  commissioners  to  be  appointed,  etc. 
The  effusion  of  blood  you  propose  stopping  by 
this  course  can  be  ended  at  any  time  you  may 
choose,  by  an  unconditional  surrender  of  the  city 
and  garrison.  Men  who  have  shown  so  much  en- 
durance and  courage  as  those  now  in  Vicksburg 
will  also  challenge  the  respect  of  an  adversary, 
and,  I  can  assure  you,  will  be  treated  with  all  the 
respect  due  to  them  as  prisoners  of  war.  I  do 
not  favor  the  proposition  of  appointing  commis- 
sioners to  arrange  terms  of  capitulation,  because 
I  have  no  other  terms  than  those  indicated  above. 

I  am,  General,  very  respectfully,  your  obedient 
servant. 

On  the  afternoon  of  the  same  day  (July  3)  Gen. 
Pemberton  sought  an  interview  with  Gen.  Grant, 
and  said :  "  General  Grant,  I  meet  you  in  order 
to  arrange  terms  for  the  capitulation.  What  terms 
do  you  demand  ?  " 

"  Unconditional  surrender,"  was  General  Grant's 
reply. 


296  CHIPS    FROM   THE    WHITE   HOUSE. 

Pemberton  rejoined :  "  Unconditional  surren- 
der !  Never,  so  long  as  I  have  a  man  left  nie.  I 
will  fight  rather." 

General  tjrant  replied,  "Very  well." 
On  July  4,  came  the  following  from  Pember- 
ton :  "  General,  I  have  the  honor  to  acknowledge 
the  receipt  of  your  communication  of  this  date, 
and,  in  reply,  to  say  that  the  terms  proposed  by 
you  are  accepted." 

[When  recommending  (1863)  Sherman  and  McPherson  for 
promotion  to  the  rank  of  Brigadier-General  in  the  reg- 
ular army,  General  Grant  wrote]  : 

"  The  first  reason  for  this  is  their  great  fitness 
for  any  command  that  it  may  ever  become  neces- 
sary to  intrust  to  them.  Second,  their  great 
purity  of  character  and  disinterestedness  in  any- 
thing except  the  faithful  performance  of  their  duty 
and  the  success  of  every  one  engaged  in  the  great 
battle  for  the  preservation  of  the  Union.  Third, 
they  have  honorably  won  this  distinction  upon 
many  well-fought  battle-fields.  The  promotion  of 
such  men  as  Sherman  and  McPherson  always  adds 
strength  to  our  army." 

[To  a  letter  from  Secretary  Chase  (July  4,  1863) , 
in  which  he  says :  "  I  find  that  a  rigorous  line 
within  districts  occupied  by  our  military  forces, 
from  beyond  which  no  cotton  or  other  produce  can 
be  brought,  and  within  which  no  trade  can  be 


ULYSSES    S.    GRANT.  297 

carried  on,  gives  rise  to  serious  and  to  some 
apparently  well-founded  complaints."  Gen.  Grant 
replied]  : 

My  experience  in  West  Tennessee  has 

convinced  me  that  any  trade  whatever  with  the 
rebel  states  is  weakening  to  us  of  at  least  thirty- 
three  per-  cent,  of  our  force.  No  matter  what  the 
restrictions  thrown  around  trade,  if  any  whatever 
is  allowed,  it  will  be  made  the  means  of  supplying 
the  enemy  with  what  they  want.  Restrictions,  if 
lived  up  to,  make  trade  unprofitable,  and  hence 
none  but  dishonorable  men  go  into  it.  I  will  ven- 
ture to  say  that  no  honorable  man  has  made  money 
in  Western  Tennessee  in  the  last  year,  while  many 
fortunes  have  been  made  there  during  that  time. 

The  people  in  the  Mississippi  valley  are  now 
nearly  subjugated.  Keep  trade  out  for  a  few 
months,  and  I  doubt  not  that  the  work  of  subjuga- 
tion will  be  so  complete,  that  trade  can  be  opened 
freely  with  the  States  of  Arkansas,  Louisiana,  and 
Mississippi ;  that  the  people  of  these  States  Avill  be 
more  anxious  for  the  enforcement  and  protection 
of  our  laws  than  the  people  of  the  loyal  States. 
They  have  experienced  the  misfortune  of  being 
without  them,  and  are  now  in  a  most  happy  con- 
dition to  appreciate  their  blessings. 

No  theory  of  my  own  will  ever  stand  in  the  way 
of  my  executing,  in  good  faith,  any  order  I  may 
receive  from  those  in  authority  over  me ;  but  my 


298  CHIPS   FROM   THE   WHITE   HOUSE. 

position  has  given  me  an  opportunity  of  seeing 
what  would  not  be  known  by  persons  away  from 
the  scene  of  war ;  and,  I  venture,  therefore,  to 
suggest  great  caution  in  opening  trade  with  rebels. 

VICKSBDRG,  July  11,  1863. 

"I  am  anxious  to  get  as  many  of  these  negro 
regiments  as  possible,  and  to  have  them  full,  and 
completely  equipped.  ...  I  am  particularly  de- 
sirous of  organizing  a  regiment  of  heavy  artillery 
from  the  negroes,  to  garrison  this  place,  and  shall 
do  so  as  soon  as  possible." 

VICKSBURG,  July  24. 

The  negro  troops  are  easier  to  preserve  discipline 
among  than  our  white  troops,  and  I  doubt  not  will 
prove  equally  good  for  garrison  duty.  All  that 
have  been  tried  have  fought  bravely. 

[In  1863,  hearing  that  some  negro  troops  in  the  service  of 
the  United  States  had  been  hung  at  Milliken's  Bend, 
General  Grant  wrote  to  General  Richard  Taylor]  : 

I  feel  no  inclination  to  retaliate  for  the  offences 
of  irresponsible  persons  ;  but  if  it  is  the  policy  of 
any  General  intrusted  with  the  command  of  troops 
to  show  no  quarter,  or  to  punish  with  death  pris- 
oners taken  in  battle,  I  will  accept  the  issue.  It 
,may  be  you  propose  a  different  line  of  policy 
towards  black  troops,  and  officers  commanding 
them,  to  that  practiced  towards  white  troops.  If 


ULYSSES   S.    GKANT.  299 

so,  I  can  assure  you  that  these  colored  troops  are 
regularly  mustered  into  the  service  of  the  United 
States.  The  Government,  and  all  officers  under 
the  Government,  are  bound  to  give  the  same  pro- 
tection to  these  troops  that  they  do  to  any  other 
troops. 

GENERAL  ORDERS,  No.  50,  VICKSBURG,  August  1,  1863. 

2.  The  citizens  of  Mississippi  within 

the  limits  above  described,  are  called  upon  to 
pursue  their  peaceful  avocations,  in  obedience  to 
the  laws  of  the  United  States.  Whilst  doing  so  in 
good  faith,  all  the  United  States  forces  are  pro- 
hibited from  molesting  them  in  any  way.  It  is 
earnestly  recommended  that  the  freedom  of  negroes 
be  acknowledged,  and  that,  instead  of  compulsory 
labor,  contracts  on  fair  terms  be  entered  into 
between  the  former  masters  and  servants,  or 
between  the  latter  and  other  persons  who  may  be 
willing  to  give  them  employment.  Such  a  system 
as  this,  honestly  followed,  will  result  in  substantial 
advantages  to  all  parties. 

All  private  property  will  be  respected,  except 
when  the  use  of  it  is  necessary  for  the  government, 
in  which  case  it  must  be  taken  under  the  direction 
of  a  commissioned  officer,  with  specific  instructions 
to  seize  certain  property,  and  no  other.  A  staff 
officer  of  the  Quartermaster  of  Subsistence  Depart- 
ment will,  in  each  instance,  be  designated  to  receipt 


300  CHIPS  FEOM  THE   WHITE   HOUSE. 

for  such  property  as  may  be  seized,  the  property 
to  be  paid  for  at  the  end  of  the  war  on  proof  of 
loyalty,  or  on  proper  adjustment  of  the  claim, 
under  such  regulations  and  laws  as  may  hereafter 
be  established. 

4.     Within  the  county  of  Warren,  laid 

waste  by  the  long  presence  of  contending  armies, 
the  following  rules,  to  prevent  suffering,  will  be 
observed :  Major-General  Sherman  and  Major- 
General  McPherson  will  each  nominate  a  Com- 
missary of  Subsistence  who  will  issue  articles  of 
prime  necessity  to  all  destitute  families  calling  for 
them,  under  such  restrictions  for  the  protection  of 
the  government  as  they  may  deem  necessary. 
Families  who  are  able  to  pay  for  the  provisions 
drawn,  will  in  all  cases  be  required  to  do  so. 

[On  August  25,  1863,  General  Grant  visited  Memphis,  Ten- 
nessee. A  committee  of  loyal  citizens  having  tendered 
him  the  hospitality  of  the  city,  he  sent  a  letter  of  ac- 
ceptance, in  which  he  said]  : 

In  accepting  this  testimonial,  which  I  do  at  a 
great  sacrifice  of  my  personal  feelings,  I  simply 
desire  to  pay  a  tribute  to  the  first  public  exhibi- 
tion in  Memphis  of  loyalty  to  the  government  which 
I  represent  in  the  Department  of  the  Tennessee. 
I  should  dislike  to  refuse,  for  considerations  of 
personal  convenience,  to  acknowledge  anywhere,  or 
in  any  form,  the  existence  of  sentiments  I  have  so 
long  and  so  ardently  desired  to  see  manifested  in 


ULYSSES   S.    GRANT.  301 

this  department.  The  stability  of  this  government 
and  the  unity  of  this  nation  depend  solely  on  the 
cordial  support  and  the  earnest  loyalty  of  the 
people.  While,  therefore,  I  thank  you  sincerely 
for  the  kind  expressions  you  have  used  toward 
myself,  I  am  profoundly  gratified  at  this  public 
recognition,  in  the  city  of  Memphis,  of  the  power 
and  authority  of  the  government  of  the  United 
States. 

[!N  THE  FIELD,  CHATTANOOGA,  TENN.,  December  10,  1863. — 
Congratulatory  Order.] 

The  General  commanding  takes  this  opportu- 
nity of  returning  his  sincere  thanks  and  congratu- 
lations to  the  brave  armies  of  the  Cumberland,  the 
Ohio,  and  the  Tennessee,  and  their  comrades  from 
the  Potomac,  for  their  recent  splendid  and  decisive 
successes  achieved  over  the  enemy.  In  a  short 
time  you  have  recovered  from  him  the  control  of 
the  Tennessee  River,  from  Bridgeport  to  Knox- 
ville.  You  dislodged  him  from  his  great  stronghold 
upon  Lookout  Mountain,  drove  him  from  Chatta- 
nooga Valley,  wrested  from  his  determined  grasp 
the  possession  of  Missionary  Ridge,  repelled,  with 
heavy  loss  to  him,  his  repeated  assaults  upon 
Knoxville,  forcing  him  to  raise  the  siege  there ; 
driving  him  at  all  points,  utterly  routed  and  dis- 
comfited, beyond  the  limits  of  the  State.  By 
your  noble  heroism  and  determined  courage 
you  have  most  effectually  defeated  the  plans  of 


302  CHIPS   FROM  THE   WHITE   HOUSE. 

the  enemy  for  regaining  possession  of  the  States 
of  Kentucky  and  Tennessee.  You  have  secured 
positions  from  which  no  rebellious  power  can 
drive  or  dislodge  you.  .For  all  this,  the  General 
commanding  thanks  you,  collectively  and  individ- 
ually. The  loyal  people  of  the  United  States 
thank  and  bless  you.  Their  hopes  and  prayers 
for  your  success  against  this  unholy  rebellion  are 
with  you  daily.  Their  faith  in  you  will  not  be  in 
vain.  Their  hopes  will  not  be  blasted.  Their 
prayers  to  Almighty  God  will  be  answered.  You 
will  yet  go  to  other  fields  of  strife,  and  with  the  in- 
vincible bravery  and  unflinching  loyalty  to  justice 
and  right  which  have  characterized  you  in  the  past, 
you  will  prove  that  no  enemy  can  withstand  you, 
and  that  no  defence,  however  formidable,  can 
check  your  onward  march. 

IN  THE  WILDERNESS,  HEAD-QUARTERS  IN  THE  FIELD,  > 
May  11,  1864,  8  A.  M.          5 

We  have  now  ended  the  sixth  day  of  very 
heavy  fighting.  The  result,  to  this  time,  is  very 
much  in  our  favor.  Our  losses  have  been  heavy, 
as  have  been  those  of  the  enemy.  I  think  the 
losses  of  the  enemy  must  be  greater. 

We  have  taken  over  five  thousand  prisoners  by 
battle,  while  he  has  taken  from  us  but  few,  except 
stragglers. 

I  propose  to  fight  it  out  on  this  line  if  it  takes 
all  summer. 


ULYSSES   S.    GRANT.  303 

CITY  POINT,  VIRGINIA,  August  16,  18G4. 

To  HON.  E.  B.  WASHBURNE. 

Dear  Sir :  I  state  to  all  citizens  who  visit  me, 
that  all  we  want  now  to  insure  an  early  restora- 
tion of  the  Union  is  a  determined  unity  of  senti- 
ment North.  The  rebels  have  now  in  their  ranks 
their  last  man.  The  little  boys  and  old  men  are 
guarding  prisoners,  grading  railroad  bridges,  and 
forming  a  good  part  of  their  garrisons  for  en- 
trenched positions.  A  man  lost  by  them  cannot 
be  replaced.  They  have  robbed  the  cradle  and 
the  grave  equally  to  get  their  present  force.  Be- 
sides what  they  lose  in  frequent  skirmishes  and 
battles,  they  are  now  losing  from  desertion  and 
other  causes  at  least  one  regiment  per  day. 

With  this  drain  upon  them  the  end  is  not  far 
distant,  if  we  will  only  be  true  to  ourselves.  Their 
only  hope  now  is  in  a  divided  North.  This  might 
give  them  re-enforcements  from  Tennessee,  Ken- 
tucky, Maryland,  and  Missouri,  while  it  would 
weaken  us.  With  the  draft  quickly  enforced  the 
enemy  would  become  despondent,  and  would  make 
but  little  resistance.  I  have  no  doubt  but  the 
enemy  are  exceedingly  anxious  to  hold  out  until 
after  the  presidential  election.  They  have  many 
hopes  from  its  effects. 

They  hope  a  counter  revolution ;  they  hope  the 
election  of  the  Peace  candidate.  In  fact,  like 


* 
304  CHIPS   FROM   THE   WHITE    HOUSE. 

"  Micawber,"  they  hope  for  something  to  "  turn 
up."  Our  Peace  friends,  if  they  expect  peace 
from  separation,  are  much  mistaken.  It  would  be 
but  the  beginning  of  war  with  thousands  of 

O  O 

Northern  men  joining  the  South  because  of  ^our 
disgrace  in  allowing  separation.  To  have  "  peace 
on  any  terms,"  the  South  would  demand  the  res- 
toration of  their  slaves  already  freed ;  they  would 
demand  indemnity  for  losses  sustained ;  and  they 
would  demand  a  treaty  which  would  make  the 
North  slave-hunters  for  the  South.  They  would 
demand  pay  for  the  restoration  of  every  slave  es- 
caping to  the  North. 

[Address  to  all  the  armies.] 

WASHINGTON,  June  2,  1SC5. 

SOLDIERS  OF  THE  ARMIES  OF  THE  UNITED 
STATES  :  By  your  patriotic  devotion  to  your  coun- 
try in  the  hour  of  danger  and  alarm,  your  mag- 
nificent fighting,  bravery,  and  endurance,  you 
have  maintained  the  supremacy  of  the  Union  and 
the  Constitution,  overthrown  all  armed  opposition  to 
the  enforcement  of  the  law,  and  of  the  proclamation 
forever  abolishing  slavery,  —  the  cause  and  pre- 
cept of  the  rebellion,  —  and  opened  the  way  to 
the  rightful  authorities  to  restore  order  and  inaug- 
urate peace  on  a  permanent  and  enduring  basis  on 
every  foot  of  American  soil.  Your  marches, 
sieges,  and  battles,  in  distance,  duration,  resolu- 


ULYSSES    S.    GRANT.  305 

tion,  and  brilliancy  of  results,  dim  the  lustre  of 
the  world's  past  military  achievements,  and  will  be 
the  patriot's  precedent  in  defence  of  liberty  and 
right  in  all  time  to  come.  In  obedience  to  your 
country's  call  you  left  your  homes  and  families, 
and  volunteered  in  its  defence.  Victory  has 
crowned  your  valor,  and  secured  the  purpose  of 
your  patriotic  hearts ;  and  with  the  gratitude  of 
your  countrymen,  and  the  highest  honors  a  great 
and  free  nation  can  accord,  you  will  soon  be  per- 
mitted to  return  to  your  homes  and  families  con- 
scious of  having  discharged  the  highest  duty  of 
American  citizens.  To  achieve  these  glorious 
triumphs,  and  secure  to  yourselves,  your  fellow- 
countrymen,  and  posterity,  the  blessings  of  free 
institutions,  tens  of  thousands  of  your  gallant 
comrades  have  fallen  and  sealed  the  priceless 
legacy  with  their  lives.  The  graves  of  these  a 
grateful  nation  bedews  with  tears,  honors  their 
memories,  and  will  ever  cherish  and  support  their 
stricken  families. 

[From  the  Report  of  the  Operations  of  the  Armies  of  the 
United  States,  1864-'65.] 

WASHINGTON,  July  22,  1865. 

From  an  early  period  of  the  rebellion 

I  had  been  impressed  with  the  idea  that  active  and 
continuous  operations  of  all  the  troops  that  could 
be  brought  into  the  field,  regardless  of  season  and 


306  CHIPS    FROM   THE    WHITE   HOUSE. 

weather,  were  necessary  to  a  speedy  termination 
of  the  war.  The  resources  of  the  enemy  and  his 
numerical  strength  were  far  inferior  to  ours ;  but, 
as  an  offset  to  this,  we  had  a  vast  territory  with  a 
population  hostile  to  the  government  to  garrison, 
and  long  lines  of  river  and  railroad  communica- 
tions to  protect,  to  enable  us  to  supply  the  oper- 
ating armies. 

The  armies  in  the  East  and  West  acted  inde- 
pendently and  without  concert,  like  a  balky  team, 
no  two  ever  pulling  together,  enabling  the  enemy 
to  use  to  great  advantage  his  interior  lines  of  com- 
munication for  transporting  troops  from  East  to 
West,  re-enforcing  the  army  most  vigorously 
pressed,  and  to  furlough  large  numbers,  during 
seasons  of  inactivity  on  our  part,  to  go  to  their 
homes  and  do  the  work  of  producing  for  the  sup- 
port of  their  armies.  It  was  a  question  whether 
our  numerical  strength  and  resources  were  not 
more  than  balanced  by  these  disadvantages  and 
the  enemy's  superior  position. 

From  the  first  I  was  firm  in  the  conviction  that 
no  peace  could  be  had  that  would  be  stable  and 
conducive  to  the  happiness  of  the  people,  both 
North  and  South,  until  the  military  power  of  the 
rebellion  was  entirely  broken. 

I  therefore  determined,  first,  to  use  the  greatest 
number  of  troops  practicable  against  the  armed 
force  of  the  enemy;  preventing  him  from  using 


ULYSSES    S.    GRANT.  307 

the  same  force  at  different  seasons  against  first 
one  and  then  another  of  our  armies,  and  the  possi- 
bility of  repose  for  refitting  and  producing  neces- 
sary supplies  for  carrying  on  resistance.  Second, 
to  hammer  continuously  against  the  armed  force 
of  the  enemy  and  his  resources,  until  by  mere  at- 
trition, if  in  no  other  way,  there  should  be  nothing 
left  to  him  but  an  equal  submission  with  the  loyal 
section  of  our  common  country  to  the  Constitu- 
tion and  laws  of  the  land. 

•  •  •  •  •  • 

It  has  been  my  fortune  to  see  the  armies  of  both 
the  West  and  East  fight  battles,  and  from  what  I 
have  seen  I  know  there  is  no  difference  in  their 
fighting  qualities.  All  that  it  was  possible  for  men 
to  do  in  battle  they  have  done.  The  Western 
armies  commenced  their  battles  in  the  Mississippi 
Valley,  and  received  the  final  surrender  of  the 
remnant  of  the  principal  army  opposed  to  them  in 
North  Carolina.  The  armies  of  the  East  com- 
menced their  battles  on  the  river  from  which  the 
Army  of  the  Potomac  derived  its  name,  and 
received  the  final  surrender  of  their  old  antagonist 
at  Appomattox  Court  House,  Virginia.  The 
splendid  achievements  of  each  have  nationalized 
our  victories,  removed  all  sectional  jealousies,  (of 
which  we  have  unfortunately  experienced  too 
much,)  and  the  cause  of  crimination  and  recrimi- 
nation that  might  have  followed  had  either  section 


308  CHIPS    FKOM   THE   WHITE    HOUSE. 

failed  in  its  duty.  All  have  a  proud  record,  and 
all  sections  can  well  congratulate  themselves  and 
each  other  for  having  done  their  full  share  in 
restoring  the  supremacy  of  law  over  every  foot  of 
territory  belonging  to  the  United  States.  Let 
them  hope  for  perpetual  peace  and  harmony  with 
that  enemy,  whose  manhood,  however  mistaken 
the  cause,  drew  forth  such  herculean  deeds  of  valor. 

[When,  August  17,  1867,  President  Johnson  ordered  Gen- 
eral Grant  to  remove  from  command  at  New  Orleans 
General  Sheridan,  and  at  the  same  time  asked  him  to 
make  suggestions  in  regard  to  the  order,  General  Grant 
replied] : 

I  am  pleased  to  avail  myself  of  this  invitation 
to  urge,  earnestly  urge,  in  the  name  of  a  patriotic 
people  who  have  sacrificed  hundreds  of  thousands 
of  loyal  lives,  and  thousands  of  millions  of  treasure, 
to  preserve  the  integrity  and  union  of  this  country, 
that  this  order  be  not  insisted  on.  It  is  unmis- 
takably the  expressed  wish  of  the  country  that 
General  Sheridan  should  not  be  removed  from  his 
present  command. 

This  is  a  republic  where  the  will  of  the  people 
is  the  law  of  the  land.  I  beg  that  then*  voice  may 
be  heard. 

General  Sheridan  has  performed  his  civil  duties 
faithfully  and  intelligently.  His  removal  will  only 
be  regarded  as  an  effort  to  defeat  the  laws  of 
Congress. 


ULYSSES   S.    GRANT.  309 


[During  the  suspension,  for  political  reasons,  of  Mr.  Stanton 
as  Secretary  of  War,  by  President  Johnson,  General 
Grant  was  appointed  Secretary  of  War,  ad  interim. 
When  the  Senate,  January  13,  1868,  passed  a  resolution 
of  non-concurrence  with  the  suspension,  General  Grant 
immediately  surrendered  the  keys  of  the  office,  which 
ofl'ended  Mr.  Johnson.  A  correspondence  between  them 
ensued.  General  Grant's  closing  letter  is  as  follows] : 

The  course  you  understood  I  agreed  to  pursue 
was  in  violation  of  law,  and  that  without  orders 
from  you ;  while  the  course  I  did  pursue,  and 
which  I  never  doubted  you  fully  understood,  was 
in  accordance  with  law,  and  not  in  disobedience 
of  any  orders  of  my  superior. 

And  now,  Mr.  President,  when  my  honor  as  a 
soldier,  and  integrity  as  a  man,  have  been  so 
violently  assailed,  pardon  me  for  saying  that  I  can 
but  regard  this  whole  matter,  from  beginning  to 
end,  as  an  attempt  to  involve  me  in  the  resistance 
of  law  for  which  you  hesitated  to  assume  the 
responsibility,  in  order  thus  to  destroy  my  char- 
acter before  the  country.  I  am  in  a  measure 
confirmed  in  this  conclusion  by  your  recent  orders 
directing  me  to  disobey  orders  from  the  Secretary 
of  War,  my  superior,  and  your  subordinate,  with- 
out having  countermanded  his  authority.  I  con- 
clude with  the  assurance,  Mr.  President,  that 
nothing  less  than  a  vindication  of  my  personal 
honor  and  character  could  have  induced  this  cor- 
respondence on  my  part. 


310  CHIPS   FROM  THE   WHITE   HOUSE. 

[From  his  Inaugural  Address,  March  4,  1869.] 

CITIZENS  or  THE  UNITED  STATES  :  Your  suffrages 
having  elected  me  to  the  office  of  President  of  the 
United  States,  I  have,  in  conformity  with  the  Con- 
stitution of  our  country,  taken  the  oath  of  office 
prescribed  therein.  I  have  taken  this  oath  without 
mental  reservation,  and  with  a  determination  to 
do,  to  the  best  of  my  ability,  all  that  it  requires 
of  me. 

The  responsibilities  of  the  position  I  feel,  but 
accept  them  without  fear.  The  office  has  come  to 
me  unsought ;  I  commence  its  duties  untram- 
melled. I  bring  to  it  a  conscious  desire  and  deter- 
mination to  fill  it,  to  the  best  of  my  ability,  to  the 
satisfaction  of  the  people.  On  all  leading  ques- 
tions agitating  the  public  mind  I  will  always  ex- 
press my  views  to  Congress,  and  urge  them  accord- 
ing to  my  judgment,  and  when  I  think  it  advisable, 
will  exercise  the  constitutional  privilege  of  inter- 
posing a  veto  to  defeat  measures  which  I  oppose. 
But  all  laws  will  be  faithfully  executed,  whether 
they  meet  my  approval  or  not. 

I  shall  on  all  subjects  have  a  policy  to  recom- 
mend, none  to  enforce  against  the  will  of  the  peo- 
ple. Laws  are  to  govern  all  alike — those  opposed 
to  as  well  as  those  in  favor  of  them.  I  know  no 
method  to  secure  the  repeal  of  bad  or  obnoxious 
laws  so  effectual  as  their  strict  execution 


ULYSSES   S.    GRAJST.  311 

A  great  debt  has  been  contracted  in  securing  to 
us  and  our  posterity  the  Union.  The  payment 
of  this,  principal  and  interest,  as  well  as  the  re- 
turn to  a  specie  basis  as  soon  as  it  can  be  accom- 
plished without  material  detriment  to  the  debtor 
class  or  to  the  country  at  large,  must  be  provided 
for.  To  protect  the  national  honor,  every  dollar 
of  the  government  indebtedness  should  be  paid  in 
gold,  unless  otherwise  especially  stipulated  in  the 
contract.  Let  it  be  understood  that  no  repudia- 
tion of  one  farthing  of  our  public  debt  will  be 
trusted  in  public  places,  anckit  will  go  far  towards 
strengthening  a  credit  which  ought  to  be  the  best 
in  the  world,  and  will  ultimately  enable  us  to  re- 
place the  debt  with  bonds  bearing  less  interest 
than  we  now  pay. 

[From  a  Message,  December,  1870.] 

As  soon  as  I  learned  that  a  Republic  had 

been  proclaimed  at  Paris,  and  the  people  of  France 
had  acquiesced  in  the  change,  the-  minister  of  the 
United  States  was  directed  by  telegraph  to  recog- 
nize it,  and  to  tender  my  congratulations  and  those 
of  the  people  of  the  United  States.  The  re-estab- 
lishment in  France  of  a  system  of  government  dis- 
connected with  the  dynastic  traditions  of  Europe 
appeared  to  be  a  proper  subject  for  the  feli citations 
of  Americans.  Should  the  present  struggle  result  in 
attaching  the  hearts  of  the  French  to  our  simpler 


312  CHIPS   FROM   THE    WHITE   HOUSE. 

form  of  representative  government,  it  will  be  a  sub- 
ject of  still  further  satisfaction  to  our  people.  While 
we  make  no  effort  to  impose  our  institutions  upon 
the  inhabitants  of  other  countries,  and  while  we 
adhere  to  our  traditional  neutrality  in  civil  contests 
'elsewhere,  we  cannot  be  indifferent  to  the  spread 
of  American  political  ideas  in  a  great  and  highly 
civilized  country  like  France. 

[From  a  Message,  December,  1871.] 

In  Utah  there  still  remains  a  remnant  of 

barbarism  repugnant  to  civilization,  to  decency, 
and  to  the  laws  of  the  United  States.  .  .  .  Neither 
polygamy  nor  any  other  violation  of  existing  stat- 
utes will  be  permitted  within  the  territory  of  the 
United  States.  It  is  not  with  the  religion  of  the 
self-styled  Saints  that  we  are  now  dealing,  but 
with  their  practices.  They  will  be  protected  in 
the  worship  of  God  according  to  the  dictates  of 
their  own  consciences,  but  they  will  not  be  per- 
mitted to  violate  the  laws  under  the  cloak  of  reli- 
gion. 

[From  a  Message,  December  7,  1875.] 

As  we  are  now  about  to  enter  upon  our 

second  centennial — commencing  our  manhood  as 
a  nation — it  is  well  to  look  back  upon  the  past, 
and  study  what  will  be  best  to  preserve  and  ad- 
vance our  future  greatness.  ..... 

We  should  look  to  the  dangers  threatening  us, 


ULYSSES    S.    GRANT.  313 

and  remove  them  as  far  as  lies  in  our  power.  We 
are  a  republic  whereof  one  man  is  as  good  as  an- 
other before  the  law.  Under  such  a  form  of  gov- 
ernment, it  is  of  the  greatest  importance  that  all 
should  be  possessed  of  education  and  intelligence 
enough  to  cast  a  vote  with  a  right  understanding 
of  its  meaning.  A  large  association  of  ignorant 
men  cannot,  for  any  considerable  period,  oppose  a 
successful  resistance  to  tyranny  and  oppression 
from  the  educated  few,  but  will  inevitably  sink  into 
acquiescence  to  the  will  of  intelligence,  whether 
directed  by  the  demagogue  or  by  priestcraft. 
Hence  the  education  of  the  masses  becomes  of  the 
first  necessity  for  the  preservation  of  our  institu- 
tions. They  are  worth  preserving,  because  they 
have  secured  the  greatest  good  to  the  greatest  pro- 
portion of  the  population  of  any  form  of  govern- 
ment yet  devised.  All  other  forms  of  government 
approach  it  in  proportion  to  the  general  diffusion 
of  education  and  independence  of  thought  and  ac- 
tion. As  the  principal  step,  therefore,  to  our 
advancement  in  all  that  has  marked  our  progress 
in  the  past  century,  I  suggest  for  your  earnest  con- 
sideration, and  most  earnestly  recommend  it,  that 
a  constitutional  amendment  be  submitted  to  the 
legislatures  of  the  several  States  for  ratification, 
making  it  the  duty  of  each  of  the  several  States 
to  establish  and  forever  maintain  free  public 
schools  adequate  to  the  education  of  all  the  chil- 


314  CHIPS    FROM   THE   WHITE   HOUSE. 

dren  in  the  rudimentary  branches  within  their  re- 
spective limits,  irrespective  of  sex,  color,  birthplace 
or  religions  ;  forbidding  the  teaching  in  said  schools 
of  religious,  atheistic,  or  pagan  tenets ;  and  pro- 
hibiting the  granting  of  any  school  funds  or  school 
taxes,  or  any  part  thereof,  either  by  legislative, 
municipal,  or  other  authority,  for  the  benefit  or  in 
aid,  directly  or  indirectly,  of  any  religious  sect  or 
denomination,  or  in  aid  or  for  the  benefit  of  any 
other  object  of  any  nature  or  kind  whatever. 


[From  a  Speech  at  the  Annual  Reunion  of  the  Army  of  the 
Tennessee,  at  Des  Moines,  Iowa,  September  29,  1875.] 

Comrades :  It  always  affords  me  much  gratifi- 
cation to  meet  my  old  comrades  in  arms  of  ten  or 
fourteen  years  ago,  and  to  live  over  again  in  mem- 
ory the  trials  and  hardships  of  those  days  —  hard- 
ships imposed  for  the  preservation  and  perpetuation 
of  our  free  institutions.  We  believed  then,  and 
believe  now,  that  we  had  a  good  government,  worth 
fighting  for,  and,  if  need  be,  dying  for.  How  many 
of  our  comrades  of  those  days  paid  the  latter  price 
for  our  preserved  Union  I  Let  their  heroism  and 
sacrifices  be  ever  green  and  in  our  memory.  Let 
not  the  results  of  their  sacrifices  be  destroyed. 
The  Union  and  the  free  institutions  for  which 
they  fell,  should  be  held  more  dear  for  their  sacri- 
fices. We  will  not  deny  to  any  of  those  who 


ULYSSES    S.    GRANT.  315 

fought  against  us  any  privileges  under  the  govern- 
ment which  we  claim  for  ourselves  ;  on  the  contra- 
ry, we  honor  all  such  who  come  forward  in  good 
faith  to  help  build  up  the  waste  places,  and  to  per- 
petuate our  institutions  against  all  enemies,  as 
brothers  in  full  interest  with  us  in  a  common  heri- 
tage ;  but  we  are  not  prepared  to  apologize  for  the 
part  we  took  in  the  war.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that 
like  trials  will  never  again  befall  our  country.  In 
this  sentiment  no  class  of  people  can  more  heartily 
join  than  the  soldier,  who  submitted  to  the  dangers, 
trials,  and  hardships  of  the  camp  and  the  battle- 
field. On  whichever  side  they  may  have  fought, 
no  class  of  people  are  more  interested  in  guarding 
against  a  recurrence  of  those  days. 

Let  us  then  begin  by  guarding  against  every 
enemy  threatening  the  perpetuity  of  free  republican 
institutions.  I  do  not  bring  into  this  assemblage 
politics,  certainly  not  partisan  politics  ;  but  it  is  a 
fair  subject  for  soldiers  in  their  deliberations  to 
consider  what  may  be  necessary  to  secure  the  prize 
for  which  they  battled  in  a  republic  like  ours. 
AVhere  the  citizen  is  sovereign  and  the  official  the 
servant,  where  no  power  is  exercised  except  by  the 
will  of  the  people,  it  is  important  that  the  sover- 
eign—  the  people — should  possess  intelligence. 

The  free  school  is  the  promoter  of  that  intelli- 
gence which  is  to  preserve  us  as  a  free  nation.  If 
we  are  to  have  another  contest  in  the  near  future 


316  CHIPS    FROM   THE    WHITE    HOUSE. 

\ 

of  our  national  existence,  I  predict  that  the  divid- 
ing line  will  not  be  Mason  and  Dixon's,  but  between 
patriotism  and  intelligence  on  the  one  side,  and 
superstition,  ambition,  and  ignorance  on  the  other. 
Now  in  this  centennial  year  of  our  national  exist- 
ence, I  believe  it  a  good  time  to  begin  the  work  of 
strengthening  the  foundation  of  the  house  com- 
menced by  our  patriotic  forefathers  one  hundred 
years  ago,  at  Concord  and  Lexington.  Let  us 
all  labor  to  add  all  needful  guarantees  for  the 
more  perfect  security  of  free  thought,  free  speech, 
and  free  press,  pure  morals,  unfettered  religious 
sentiments,  and  of  equal  rights  and  privileges  to 
all  men,  irrespective  of  nationality,  color,  or  re- 
ligion. Encourage  free  schools,  and  resolve  that 
not  one  dollar  of  money  appropriated  to  their 
support,  no  matter  how  raised,  shall  be  appro- 
priated to  the  support  of  any  sectarian  school. 
Resolve  that  the  State  or  Nation,  or  both  combined, 
shall  furnish  to  every  child  growing  up  in  the  land, 
the  means  of  acquiring  a  good  common-school  edu- 
cation, unmixed  with  sectarian,  pagan,  or  atheistic 
tenets.  Leave  the  matter  of  religion  to  the  family 
altar,  the  church,  and  the  private  school  support- 
ed entirely  by  private  contributions.  Keep  the 
church  and  state  forever  separate.  With  these 
safeguards,  I  believe  the  battles  which  created  the 
Army  of  the  Tennessee  will  not  have  been  fought 
in  vain. 


ULYSSES   S.    GEANT.  317 


[From  a  Letter  explanatory  of  a  passage  in  the  above 
Speech.] 

I .  feel  no  hostility  to  free  education  going  as 
high  as  the  state  or  national  government  feels  able 
to  provide,  protecting,  however,  every  child  in 
the  privilege  of  a  common-school  education  be- 
fore public  means  are  applied  to  a  higher  educa- 
tion for  the  few. 

[From  a  Message.] 

In  a  former  Message  to  Congress  I  had  occasion 
to  consider  this  question,  [the  recognition  of  bel- 
ligerent rights,]  and  reached  the  conclusion  that 
the  conflict  in  Cuba,  dreadful  and  devastating  as 
were  its  incidents,  did  not  rise  to  the  fearful  dig- 
nity of  war. 

[From  a  Message,  December,  1876.] 

The   compulsory    support   of  the   free 

schools,  and  the  disfranchisement  of  all  who  can- 
not read  and  write  the  English  language,  after  a 
fixed  probation,  would  meet  my  hearty  approval.* 

[Veto  Message  of  the  Senate  Currency  Bill.] 

I  am  not  a  believer  in  any  artificial  method  of 
making  paper  mpney  equal  to  coin  when  the  coin 

*  He  would  not  have  this  action  retrospective.  It  should 
apply  only  to  future  voters. 


318  CHIPS   FEOM   THE   WHITE    HOUSE. 

is  not  owned  or  held  ready  to  redeem  the  promise 
to  pay,  for  paper  money  is  nothing  more  than 
promises  to  pay. 

[From  a  Speech  at  a  banquet  in  the  Town-hall,  Birming- 
ham, October  17.] 

He   [Mr.  Chamberlain,  M.  P.]   alluded 

to  the  great  merit  of  retiring  a  large  army  at  the 
close  of  a  great  war.  If  he  had  ever  been  in  my 
position  for  four  years,  and  undergone  all  the 
anxiety  and  care  that  I  had  in  the  management 
of  those  large  armies,  he  would  appreciate  how 
happy  I  was  to  be  able  to  say  that  they  could  be 
dispensed  with.  I  disclaim  all  credit  and  praise 
for  doing  that  one  thing.  .  .  .  Further,  we 
Americans  claim  to  be  so  much  of  Englishmen, 
and  to  have  so  much  general  intelligence,  and  so 
much  personal  independence  and  individuality, 
that  we  do  not  quite  believe  that  it  is  possible  for 
any  one  man  there  to  assume  any  more  right  and 
authority  than  the  constitution  of  the  land  gave  to 
him.  Among  the  English-speaking  people  we  do 
not  think  these  things  possible.  We  can  fight  among 
ourselves,  and  dispute  and  abuse  each  other,  but 
we  will  not  allow  ourselves  to  be  abused  outside  ; 
nor  will  those  who  look  on  at  our  little  personal 
quarrels  in  our  own  midst  permit  us  to  interfere 
with  their  own  rights.  — Around  the.  World  with 
General  Grant,  by  John  Russell  Young. 


ULYSSES   S.    GKANT.  319 


[From  a  Speech,  in  reply  to  an  Address  on  behalf  of  the 
International  Arbitration  Union,  Birmingham.] 

I  am  conscientiously,   and  have   been 

from  the  beginning,  an  advocate  of  what  the  so- 
ciety represented  by  you  is  seeking  to  carry  out ; 
and  nothing  would  afford  me  greater  happiness 
than  to  know,  as  I  believe  will  be  the  case,  that, 
at  some  future  day,  the  nations  of  the  earth  will 
agree  upon  some  sort  of  Congress,  which  shall 
take  cognizance  of  international  questions  of  diffi- 
culty, and  whose  decisions  will  be  as  binding  as 
the  decision  of  our  Supreme  Court  is  binding  on 
us.  It  is  a  dream  of  mine  that  some  such  solution 
may  be  found  for  all  questions  of  great  difficulty 
that  may  arise  between  different  nations.  In  one 
of  the  addresses  reference  was  made  to  the  dismis- 
sal of  the  army  to  the  pursuit  of  peaceful  industry. 
I  would  gladly  see  the  millions  of  men  who  are 
now  supported  by  the  industry  of  the  nations  re- 
turn to  industrial  pursuits,  and  thus  become  sen- 
sustaining,  and  take  off  the  tax  upon  labor  winch 
is  now  levied  for  their  support.  —  Around  the 
World. 

[In  reply  to  an  Address  of  the   Iron-Founders'  Society, 
July  3,  1877.] 

I  recognize  the  fact  that  whatever  there 

is  of  greatness  in  the  United  States,  or  indeed  hi 
any  other  country,  is  due  to  the  labor  performed. 


320  CHIPS   FROM   THE    WHITE   HOUSE. 

The  laborer  is  the  author  of  all  greatness  and 
wealth.  Without  labor  there  would  be  no  govern- 
ment, or  no  leading  class,  or  nothing  to  preserve. 
With  us  labor  is  regarded  as  highly  respectable. 
—  Around  the  World. 


[At  a  lunch  in  the  Guild  hall,  London,  June  16, 1877.    After 
having  spoken  once  before,  he  said]  : 

Habits  formed  in  early  life  and  early  education 
press  upon  us  as  we  grow  older.  I  am  not  aware 
that  I  ever  fought  two  battles  on  the  same  day  in 
the  same  place,  and  that  I  should  be  called  upon 
to  make  two  speeches  on  the  same  day  under  the 
same  roof  is  beyond  my  understanding.  What  I 
do  understand  is,  that  I  am  much  indebted  to  all 
of  you  for  the  compliments  you  have  paid  me. 
All  I  can  do  is  to  thank  the  Lord  Mayor  for  his 
kind  words,  and  to  thank  the  citizens  of  Great 
Britain  here  present  in  the  name  of  my  country 
and  for  myself. 

[Later  in  the  day,  at  a  dinner  in  the  Crystal  Palace,  Mr. 
Thomas  Hughes  proposed  the  health  of  General  Grant, 
adding  that  he  did  not  impose  the  burden  of  a  reply. 
General  Grant,  however,  said]  : 

Mr.  Hughes,  I  must  none  the  less  tell  you  what 
gratification  it  gives  me  to  hear  my  health  pro- 
posed in  such  hearty  words  by  Tom  Brown,  of 
Rugby.  —  Around  the  World. 


ULYSSES   S.    GKANT.  321 


[A  Speech  at  a  dinner-party  at  Hamburg,  of  American  la- 
dies and  gentlemen,  July  4,  1878.] 

MR.  CONSUL  AND  FRIENDS  :  I  am  much  obliged 
to  you  for  the  kind  manner  in  which  you  drink  my 
health.  I  share  with  you  in  all  the  pleasure  and 
gratitude  which  Americans  so  far  from  home  should 
feel  on  this  anniversary.  But  I  must  dissent  from 
one  remark  of  our  consul,  to  the  effect  that  I  saved 
the  country  during  the  recent  war.  If  our  country 
could  be  saved  or  ruined  by  the  efforts  of  any  one 
man  we  should  not  have  a  country,  and  we  should 
not  be  now  celebrating  our  Fourth  of  July.  There 
are  many  men  who  would  have  done  far  better 
than  I  did  under  the  circumstances  in  which  I 
found  myself  during  the  war.  If  I  had  never  held 
command ;  if  I  had  fallen ;  if  all  our  generals  had 
fallen,  there  were  ten  •  thousand  behind  us  who 
Avould  have  done  our  work  just  as  well,  who  would 
have  followed  the  contest  to  the  end,  and  never 
surrendered  the  Union.  Therefore  it  is  a  mistake, 
and  a  reflection  upon  the  people,  to  attribute  to 
me,  or  to  any  number  of  men  who  held  high  com- 
mand, the  salvation  of  the  Union.  We  did  our 
work  as  well  as  we  could,  and  so  did  hundreds  of 
thousands  of  others.  "We  deserve  no  credit  for  it, 
for  we  should  have  been  unworthy  of  our  country 
and  of  the  American  name,  if  we  had  not  made 

every  sacrifice  to  save  the  Union.     What  saved 
21 


322  CHIPS  FROM   THE   WHITE   HOUSE. 

the  Union  was  the  coming  forward  of  the  young 
men  of  the  nation.  They  came  from  their  homes 
and  fields,  as  they  did  in  the  time  of  the  Revolu- 
tion, giving  everything  to  the  country.  To  their 
devotion  we  owe  the  salvation  of  the  Union.  The 
humblest  soldier  who  carried  a  musket  is  entitled 
to  as  much  credit  for  the  results  of  the  war  as 
those  who  were  in  command.  So  long  as  our 
young  men  are  animated  by  this  spirit  there  will 
be  no  fear  for  the  Union. — Around  the  World. 

With  a  people  as  honest  and  proud  as  the  Am- 
ericans, and  with  so  much  common-sense,  it  is 
always  a  mistake  to  do  a  thing  not  entirely  right 
for  the  sake  of  expediency.  —  Around  the  World. 

When  I  was  in  the  army  I  had  a  physique  that 
could  stand  anything.  Whether  I  slept  on  the 
ground  or  in  a  tent,  whether  I  slept  one  hour  or 
ten  in  the  twenty-four,  whether  I  had  one  meal 
or  three,  or  none,  made  no  difference.  I  could  lie 
down  and  sleep  in  the  rain  without  caring.  But  I 
was  many  years  younger,  and  I  could  not  hope  to 
do  that  now.  —  Around  the  World. 

The  only  eyes  a  general  can  trust  are  his  own. 
—  Around  the  World. 

I  never  saw  the  President  [Lincoln]  until  he 
gave  me  my  commission  as  Lieutenant-general. 


ULYSSES   S.    GRANT.  323 

Afterwards  I  saw  him  often,  either  in  Washington 
or  at  head-quarters.  Lincoln,  I  may  almost  say, 
spent  the  last  days  of  his  life  with  me.  I  often 
recall  those  days.  He  came  down  to  City  Point 
in  the  last  month  of  the  war,  and  was  with  me  all 
the  time.  He  lived  on  a  dispatch-boat  in  the 
river,  but  was  always  around  head-quarters.  He 
was  a  fine  horseman,  and  rode  my  horse  Cincin- 
nati. He  visited  the  different  camps,  and  I  did  all 
I  could  to  interest  him.  He  was  very  anxious 
about  the  war  closing ;  was  afraid  we  could  not 
stand  a  new  campaign,  and  wanted  to  be  around 
when  the  crash  came. 

I  have  no  doubt  that  Lincoln  will  be  the  con- 
spicuous figure  of  the  war ;  one  of  the  great  figures 
of  history.  He  was  a  great  man,  a  very  great 
man.  The  more  I  saw  of  him,  the  more  this  im- 
pressed me.  He  was  incontestably  the  greatest 
man  I  ever  knew.  What  marked  him  especially 
was  his  sincerity,  his  kindness,  his  clear  insight 
into  affairs.  Under  all  this  he  had  a  firm  will, 
and  a  clear  policy.  People  used  to  say  that 
Seward  swa}red  him,  or  Chase,  or  Stanton.  This 
was  a  mistake.  He  might  appear  to  go  Seward's 
way  one  day,  and  Stanton's  another,  but  all  the 
time  he  was  going  his  own  course,  and  they  with 
him.  It  was  that  gentle  firmness  in  carrying  out 
his  own  will,  without  apparent  force  or  friction, 
that  formed  the  basis  of  his  character,  He  was  a 


324  CHIPS   FKOM   THE    WHITE    HOUSE. 

wonderful  talker  and  teller  of  stories.  It  is  said 
his  stories  were  improper.  I  have  heard  of  them, 
but  I  never  heard  Lincoln  use  an  improper  word 
or  phrase.  I  have  sometimes,  when  I  hear  his 
memory  called  in  question,  tried  to  recall  such  a 
thing,  but  I  cannot.  I  always  found  him  pre- 
eminently, a  clean-minded  man.  I  regard  these 
stories  as  exaggerations.  Lincoln's  power  of  il- 
lustration, his  humor,  was  inexhaustible.  He  had 
a  story  or  an  illustration  for  everything. — Around 
the  World. 

I  would  deal  with  nations  as  equitable  law  re- 
quires individuals  to  deal  with  each  other. 

I  knew  Stonewall  Jackson  at  West  Point  and  in 
Mexico.  At  West  Point  he  came  into  the  school 
at  an  older  age  than  the  average,  and  be^an  with  a 

O  ~      7  O 

low  grade.  But  he  had  so  much  courage  and 
energy,  worked  so  hard,  and  governed  his  life  by 
a  discipline  so  stern,  that  he  steadily  worked  his 
way  along  and  rose  far  above  others  who  had  more 
advantages.  Stonewall  Jackson  at  West  Point 
was  in  a  state  of  constant  improvement.  He  was 
a  religious  man  then,  and  some  of  us  regarded  him 
as  a  fanatic.  Sometimes  his  religion  took  strange 
forms — hypochondria — fancies  that  an  Evil  Spirit 
had  taken  possession  of  him.  But  he  never  re- 
laxed in  his  studies  or  his  Christian  duties.  I 
knew  him  in  Mexico.  He  was  always  a  brave  and 


ULYSSES   S.    GRANT.  325 

trustworthy  officer, — none  more  so  in  the  army.  I 
never  knew  him  or  encountered  him  in  the  rebellion. 
I  question  whether  his  campaigns  in  Virginia  justify 
his  reputation  as  a  great  commander.  He  was 
killed  too  soon,  and  before  his  rank  allowed  him 
a  great  command.  It  would  have  been  a  test  of 
generalship  if  Jackson  had  met  Sheridan  in  the 
Valley,  instead  of  some  of  the  men  he  did  meet. 
From  all  I  know  of  Jackson,  and  all  I  see  of  his 
campaigns,  I  have  little  doubt  of  the  result.  If 
Jackson  had  attempted  on  Sheridan  the  tactics  he 
attempted  so  successfully  upon  others  he  would 
not  only  have  been  beaten  but  destroyed.  Sudden 
daring  raids,  under  a  fine  general  like  Jackson, 
might  do  against  raw  troops  and  inexperienced 
commanders,  such  as  we  had  in  the  beginning  of 
the  war,  but  not  against  drilled  troops  and  a  com- 
mander like  Sheridan.  The  tactics  for  which 
Jackson  is  famous,  and  which  achieved  such  re- 
markable results,  belonged  entirely  to  the  beginning 
of  the  war  and  to  the  peculiar  conditions  under 
which  the  earlier  battles  were  fought.  They  would 
have  ensured  destruction  to  any  commander  who 
tried  them  upon  Sherman,  Thomas,  Sheridan, 
Meade,  or,  in  fact,  any  of  our  great  generals. 
Consequently  Jackson's  fame  as  a  general  depends 
upon  achievements  gained  before  his  generalship 
was  tested,  before  he  had  a  chance  of  matching 
himself  with  a  really  great  commander.  No  doubt 


326  CHIPS  FROM   THE   WHITE   HOUSE. 

so  able  and  patient  a  man  as  Jackson,  who  worked 
so  hard  at  anything  he  attempted,  would  have 
adapted  himself  to  new  conditions  and  risen  with 
them.  He  died  before  his  opportunity.  I  always 
respected  Jackson  personally,  and  esteemed  his 
sincere  and  manly  character.  He  impressed  me 
always  as  a  man  of  the  Cromwell  stamp,  a  Puri- 
tan— much  more  of  the  New  Englander  than  the 
Virginian.  If  any  man  believed  in  the  rebellion, 
he  did.  And  his  nature  was  such  that  whatever 
he  believed  in  became  a  deep  religious  duty,  a 
duty  he  would  discharge  at  any  cost.  It  is  a 
mistake  to  suppose  that  I  ever  had  any  feeling  for 
Stonewall  Jackson  but  respect.  Personally  we 
were  always  good  friends  ;  his  character  had  rare 
points  of  merit,  and  although  he  made  the  mistake 
of  fighting  against  his  country,  if  ever  a  man  did 
so  conscientiously,  he  was  the  man. — Around  the 
World. 

The  war,  when  it  broke  out,  found  me  relieved 
from  the  army,  and  engaged  in  my  father's  business 
in  Galena,  Illinois.  A  company  of  volunteers 
were  formed  under  the  first  call  of  the  President. 
I  had  no  position  in  the  company,  but  having  had 
military  experience  I  agreed  to  go  with  the  com- 
pany to  Springfield,  the  capital  of  the  State,  and 
assist  in  drill.  When  I  reached  Springfield  I  was 
assigned  to  duty  in  the  Adjutant's  Department,  and 


ULYSSES   S.    GEANT.  327 

did  a  good  share  of  the  detail  work.  I  had  had 
experience  in  Mexico.  As  soon  as  the  work  of 
mustering-in  was  over,  I  asked  Gov.  Gates  for  a 
week's  leave  of  absence  to  visit  my  parents  in 
Covington.  The  Governor  gave  me  the  leave. 
While  I  wanted  to  pay  a  visit  home,  I  was  also 
anxious  to  see  McClellan.  McClellan  was  then  in 
Cincinnati  in  command.  He  had  been  appointed 
Major-General  in  the  regular  army.  I  was  de- 
lighted with  the  appointment.  I  knew  McClellan 
and  had  great  confidence  in  him.  I  have,  for  that 
matter,  never  lost  my  respect  for  McClellan's 
character,  nor  my  confidence  in  his  loyalty  and 
ability.  I  saw  in  him  the  man  who  was  to  pilot  us 
through,  and  I  wanted  to  be  on  his  staff.  I 
thought  that  if  he  would  make  me  a  major,  or 
a  lieutenant-colonel,  I  could  be  of  use,  and  I 
wanted  to  be  with  him.  So  when  I  came  to  Cin- 
cinnati I  went  to  the  head-quarters.  Several  of 
the  staff  officers  were  friends  I  had  known  in  the 
army.  I  asked  one  of  them  if  the  General  was 
in.  I  was  told  he  had  just  gone  out,  and  was 
asked  to  take  a  seat.  Everybody  was  so  busy 
that  they  could  not  say  a  word.  I  waited  a 
couple  of  hours.  I  never  saw  such  a  busy  crowd — 
so  many  men  at  an  army  head-quarters  with  quills 
behind  their  ears.  But  I  supposed  it  was  all  right, 
and  was  much  encouraged  by  their  industry.  It 
was  a  great  comfort  to  see  the  men  so  busy  with 


328  CHIPS   FROM  THE   WHITE   HOUSE. 

the  quills.  Finally,  after  a  long  wait,  I  told  an 
officer  that  I  would  come  in  again  next  day,  and 
requested  him  to  tell  McClellan  that  I  had  called. 
Next  day  I  came  in.  The  same  story.  The 
general  had  just  gone  out,  might  be  in  at  any 
moment.  Would  I  wait?  I  sat  and  waited  for 
two  hours,  watching  the  officers  with  their  quills, 
and  left.  .  .  .  McClellan  never  acknowledged  my 
call,  and,  of  course,  after  he  knew  I  had  -been  at 
his  head-quarters  I  was  bound  to  await  his  ac- 
knowledgment. I  was  older,  had  ranked  him  in 
the  army,  and  could  not  hang  around,  his  head- 
quarters watching  the  men  with  the  quills  behind 
their  ears.  I  went  over  to  make  a  visit  to  an  old 
army  friend,  Reynolds,  and  while  there  learned 
that  Governor  Gates,  of  Illinois,  had  made  me  a 
colonel  of  volunteers.  Still  I  should  like  to  have 
joined  McClellan. 

This  pomp  and  ceremony  was  common  at  the 
beginning  of  the  war.  McClellan  had  three  times 
as  many  men  with  quills  behind  their  ears  as  I  had 
ever  found  necessary  at  the  head-quarters  of  a  much 
larger  command.  Fremont  had  as  much  state  as  a 
Sovereign,  and  was  as  difficult  to  approach.  His 
headquarters  alone  required  as  much  transporta- 
tion-as  a  division  of  troops.  I  was  under  his  com- 
mand a  part  of  the  time,  and  remember  hoAV  impos- 
ing was  his  manner  of  doing  business.  He  sat  in  a 
room  in  full  uniform,  with  his  maps  -before  him. 


ULYSSES   S.    GEANT.  329 

When  you  went  in,  he  would  point  out  one  line-  or 
another  in  a  mysterious  manner,  never  asking  you 
to  take  a  seat.  You  left  without  the  least  idea  of 
what  he  meant  or  what  he  wanted  you  to  do. 

McClellan  is  to  me  one  of  the  mysteries 

of  the  war.  As  a  young  man  he  was  always  a  mys- 
tery. He  had  the  way  of  inspiring  you  with  the 
idea  of  immense  capacity,  if  he  would  only  have  a 
chance.  Then  he  is  a  man  of  unusual  accomplish- 
ments, a  student  and  a  well-read  man.  I  have  never 
studied  his  campaigns  enough  to  make  up  my  mind 
as  to  his  military  skill,  but  all  my  impressions  are 
in  his  favor.  I  have  entire  confidence  in  McClellan's 
loyality  and  patriotism.  But  the  test  which  was 
applied  to  him  would  be  terrible  to  any  man,  being 
made  a  major-general  at  the  beginning  of  the  war. 
It  has  always  seemed  to  me  that  the  critics  of  Mc- 
Clellan do  not  consider  this  vast  and  cruel  responsi- 
bility—  the  war  a  new  thing  to  all  of  us,  the  army 
new,  everything  to  do  from  the  outset,  with  a  rest- 
less people  and  Congress.  McClellan  was  a  young 
man  when  this  devolved  upon  him,  and  if  he  did 
not  succeed,  it  was  because  the  conditions  of  suc- 
cess were  so  trying.  If  McClellan  had  gone  into  the 
war  as  did  Sherman,  Thomas,  orMeade,  had  fought 
his  way  along  and  up,  I  have  no  reason  to  suppose 
he  would  not  have  now  as  high  a  distinction  as  any 
of  us.  McClellan's  main  blunder  was  in  allowing 
himself  political  sympathies,  and  in  permitting  him- 


330  CHIPS   FROM   THE   WHITE   HOUSE. 

self  to  become  the  critic  of  the  President,  and  in 
time  his  rival.  This  is  shown  in  his  letter  to  Mr. 
Lincoln  on  his  return  to  Harrison's  Landing,  when 
he  sat  down  and  wrote  out  a  policy  for  the  govern- 
ment. He  was  forced  into  this  by  his  associations, 
and  that  led  to  his  nomination  for  the  presidency. 
I  remember  how  disappointed  I  was  about  this  let- 
ter, and  also  in  his  failure  to  destroy  Lee  at  Antie- 
tam.  His  friends  say  that  he  failed  because  of  the  in- 
terference from  Washington.  I  am  afraid  the  inter- 
ference from  Washington  was  not  from  Mr.  Lincoln 
so  much  as  from  the  enemies  of  the  administration, 
who  believed  they  could  carry  their  point  through 
the  army  of  the  Potomac.  My  own  experience  with 
Mr.  Lincoln  and  Mr.  Stanton,  both  in  the  western 
and  eastern  armies,  was  the  reverse.  I  was  never 
interfered  with.  I  had  the  fullest  support  of  the 
President  and  Secretary  of  War.  No  general  could 
want  better  backing,  for  the  President  was  a  man 
of  great  wisdom  and  moderation,  the  Secretary  a 
man  of  enormous  character  and  will.  Very  often 
where  Lincoln  would  want  to  say  Yes,  his  Secretary 
would  make  him  say  No ;  and  more  frequently  when 
the  Secretary  was  driving  on  in  a  violent  course,  the 
President  would  check  him.  United,  Lincoln  and 
Stanton  made  about  as  perfect  a  combination  as  I 
believe  could,  by  any  possibility,  govern  a  great 
nation  in  time  of  war.  —  Around  the  World. 


ULYSSES   S.    GRANT.  331 

A  general  who  will  never  take  a  chance  in  a  bat- 
tle will  never  fight  one. — Around  the  World. 

Sherman  is  not  only  a  great  soldier,  but  a  great 
man.  He  is  one  of  the  very  great  men  in  our 
country's  history.  He  is  a  many-sided  man.  He 
is  an  orator  with  few  superiors.  As  a  writer  he  is 
among  the  first.  As  a  general  I  know  of  no  man 
I  would  put  above  -him.  Above  all,  he  has  a  fine 
character  —  so  frank,  so  sincere,  so  outspoken,  so 
genuine.  There  is  not  a  false  line  in  Sherman's 
character — nothing  to  regret 

The  march  to  the  sea  was  proposed  by  me  in  a 
letter  to  Halleck  before  I  left  the  Western  army ; 
my  objective  point  was  Mobile.  It  was  not  a  sud- 
den inspiration,  but  a  logical  move  in  the  game. 
It  was  the  next  thing  to  be  done.  We  had  gone 
so  far  into  the  South  that  we  had  to  go  to  the  sea. 
We  could  not  go  anywhere  else,  for  we  were  cer- 
tainly not  going  back.  The  details  of  the  march, 
the  conduct,  the  whole  glory  belong  to  Sherman. 
I  never  thought  much  as  to  the  origin  of  the  idea. 
I  presume  it  grew  up  in  correspondence  with 
Sherman ;  that  it  took  shape  as  those  things  always 
do.  Sherman  is  a  man  writh  so  many  resources 
and  a  mind  so  fertile,  that  once  an  idea  takes  root 
it  grows  rapidly.  My  objection  to  Sherman's  plan 
at  the  time,  and  my  objection  now,  was  his  leaving 
Hood's  army  in  the  rear.  I  always  wanted  the 


332  CHIPS   FROM   THE    WHITE   HOUSE. 

march  to  the  sea,  but  at  the  same  time  I  wanted 
Hood. — Around  the  World. 

[From  his  Speech  in  London,  when  presented  with  the  free- 
dom of  the  city,  June  15,  1877.] 

Although  a  soldier  by  education  and  profession, 
I  have  never  felt  any  sort  of  fondness  for  war,  and  I 
have  never  advocated  it  except  as  a  means  of  peace. 
— Around  the  World. 

I  was  never  more  delighted  at  anything  than  the 
close  of  the  war.  I  never  liked  service  in  the 
army — not  as  a  young  officer.  I  did  not  want  to 
go  to  West  Point.  My  appointment  was  an  acci- 
dent, and  my  father  had  to  use  his  authority  to 
make  me  go.  If  I  could  have  escaped  West  Point 
without  bringing  myself  into  disgrace  at  home,  I 
would  have  done  so.  I  remember  about  the  time 
I  entered  the  Academy  there  were  debates  in  Con- 
gress over  a  proposal  to  abolish  West  Point.  I 
used  to  look  over  the  papers  and  read  the  Congress 
reports  with  eagerness  to  see  the  progress  the  bill 
made,  and  hoping  to  hear  that  the  school  had  been 
abolished,  and  that  I  could  go  home  to  my  father 
without  being  in  disgrace.  I  never  went  into  a 
battle  willingly  or  with  enthusiasm.  I  was  always 
glad  when  a  battle  was  over.  I  never  want  to 
command  another  army.  I  take  no  interest  in 
armies.  When  the  Duke  of  Cambridge  asked  me 
to  review  his  troops  at  Aldershot,  I  told  his  Royal 


ULYSSES    S.    GRANT.  333 

Highness  that  the  one  thing  I  never  wanted  to  see 
again  was  a  military  parade.  When  I  resigned 
from  the  army  and  went  to  a  farm  I  was  happy. 
When  the  rebellion  came  I  returned  to  the  service 
because  it  was  a  duty.  I  had  no  thought  of  rank ; 
all  I  did  was  to  try  and  make  myself  useful.  My 
first  commission  as  brigadier  came  on  the  unani- 
mous indorsement  of  the  delegation  from  Illinois. 
I  do  not  think  I  knew  any  of  the  members  but 
'Washburne,  and  I  did  not  know  him  very  well. 
It  was  only  after  Donelson  that  I  began  to  see  how 
important  was  the  work  that  Providence  devolved 
upon  me.  .  .  .  You  see,  Donelson  was  our  first 
clear  victory,  and  you  will  remember  the  enthusi- 
asm that  came  With  it.  ...  When  other  com- 
mands came  I  always  regretted  them.  When  the 
bill  creating  the  grade  of  Lieutenant-General  was 
proposed,  with  my  name  as  Lieutenant-General,  I 
wrote  Mr.  Washburne  opposing  it.  I  did  not 
want  it.  I  found  that  the  bill  was  right  and  I  was 

O 

wrong,  when  I  came  to  command  the  Army  of  the 
Potomac — that  a  head  was  needed  to  the  army.  I 
did  not  want  the  Presidency,  and  have  never  quite 
forgiven  myself  for  resigning  the  command  of  the 
army  to  accept  it ;  but  it  could  not  be  helped.  I 
owed  my  honors  and  opportunities  to  the  Republi- 
can party,  and  if  my  name  could  aid  it  I  was 
bound  to  accept.  The  second  nomination  was 
almost  due  to  me  —  if  I  may  use  the  phrase  —  be- 


334  CHIPS   FROM   THE   WHITE   HOUSE. 

cause  of  the  bitterness  of  political  personal  op- 
ponents. My  re-election  was  a  great  gratification, 
because  it  showed  me  how  the  country  felt.  — 
Around  the  World. 

I  always  dreaded  going  to  the  Army  of  the 
Potomac.  After  the  battle  of  Gettysburg  I  was 
told  I  could  have  the  command,  but  I  managed  to 
keep  out  of  it.  I  had  seen  so  many  generals  fall, 
one  after  another,  like  bricks  in  a  row,  that  I " 
shrank  from  it.  After  the  battle  of  Mission  Ridge, 
and  my  appointment  as  Lieutenant-General,  and  I 
was  allowed  to  choose  my  place,  it  could  not  be 
avoided.  Then  it  seemed  as  if  the  time  was  ripe, 
and  I  had  no  hesitation.  — Around  the  World. 

The  most  troublesome  men  in  public  life,  are 
those  over-righteous  people  who  see  no  motive  in 
other  people's  actions  but  evil  motives ;  who  be- 
lieve all  public  life  is  corrupt,  and  nothing  is  well 
done  unless  they  do  it  themselves.  They  are  nar- 
row-headed men,  their  two  eyes  so  close  together 
that  they  can  look  out  of  the  same  gimlet-hole 
without  winking.  —  Around  the  World. 

Andrew  Johnson,  one  of  the  ablest  of  the  poor 
white  class,  tried  to  assert  some  independence ; 
but  as  soon  as  the  slaveholders  put  their  thumb 
upon  him,  even  in  the  Presidency,  he  became 
their  slave.  — Around  the  World. 


ULYSSES   S.    GRANT.  335 

I  do  not  believe  in  luck  in  war  any  more  than 
in  luck  in  business.  Luck  is  a  small  matter ;  may 
affect  a  battle  or  a  movement,  but  not  a  campaign 
or  a  career. —  Around  the  World. 

Speaking  of  the  notable  men  I  have  met  in  Eu- 
rope, I  regard  Bismarck  and  Gambetta  as  the 
greatest.  I  saw  a  good  deal  of  Bismark  in  Berlin, 
and  later  in  Gastein,  and  had  long  talks  with  him. 
He  impresses  you  as  a  great  man. 

Gambetta  also  impressed  me  greatly.  I  was 
not  surprised,  when  I  met  him,  to  see  the  power  he 
wielded  over  France.  I  should  not  be  surprised 
at  any  prominence  he  might  attain  in  the  future.  I 
was  very  much  pleased  with  the  Republican  lead- 
ers in  France.  They  seemed  a  superior  body  of 
men.  My  relations,  with  them  gave  me  great  hopes 
for  the  future  of  the  Republic.  They  were  men 
apparently  of  sense,  wisdom,  and  moderation.  — 
Around  the  World. 

I  have  always  had  an  aversion  to  Napoleon  and 
the  whole  family.  When  I  was  in  Denmark  the 
Prince  Imperial  was  there,  and  some  one  thought 
it  might  be  pleasant  for  me  to  meet  him.  I  de- 
clined, saying  I  did  not  want  to  see  him  or  any  of 
his  family.  Of  course  the  first  emperor  was  a 
great  genius,  but  one  of  the  most  selfish  and  cruel 
men  in  history.  Outside  of  his  military  skill,  I  do 


336  CHIPS   FROM   THE   WHITE   HOUSE. 

not  see  a  redeeming  trait  in  his  character.  He 
abused  France  for  his  own  ends, and  brought  incred- 
ible disasters  upon  his  country  to  gratify  his  selfish 
ambition.-  I  do  not  think  any  genius  can  excuse  a 
crime  like  that.  The  third  Napoleon  was  worse 
than  the  first,  the  especial  enemy  of  America  and 
liberty.  Think  of  the  misery  he  brought  upon 
France  by  a  war,  which,  under  the  circumstances, 
no  one  but  a  madman  would  have  declared.  I 
never  doubted  how  the  war  would  end,  and  my 
sympathies  at  the  outset  were  entirely  with  Ger- 
many. I  had  no  ill-will  to  the  French  people,  but 
to  Napoleon.  After  Sedan,  I  thought  Germany 
should  have  made  peace  with  France ;  and  I  think 
that  if  peace  had  been  made  then,  in  a  treaty  which 
would  have  shown  that  the  war  was  not  against 
the  French  people,  but  against  a  tyrant  and  his 
dynasty,  the  condition  of  Europe  would  now  be 
different.  Germany,  especially,  would  be  in  a  better 
condition,  without  being  compelled  to  ami  every 
man,  and  drain  the  country  every  year  of  its  young 
men  to  arm  against  France.  .  .  .  There  exists, 
and  has  since  the  foundation  of  our  government 
always  existed,  a  traditional  friendship  between 
our  people  and  the  French.  I  had  this  feeling  in 
common  with  my  countrymen.  But  I  felt  at  the 
same  time  that  no  people  had  so  groat  an  interest 
in  the  removal  of  Napoleonism  from  France  as 
the  French  people.  —  Around  the  World. 


ULYSSES   S.    GRAXT.  337 

[From  a  Speech  at  Elgin,  Scotland.] 

I  am  happy  to  say,  that  during  the  eight  years 
of  my  Presidency  it  was  a  hope  of  mine,  which  I 
am  glad  to  say  was  realized,  that  all  differences 
between  the  two  nations  should  be  settled  in  a  man- 
ner honorable  to  both.  All  the  questions,  I  am 
glad  to  say,  were  so  settled,  and  in  my  desire  for 
that  result,  it  was  my  aim  to  do  what  was  right, 
irrespective  of  any  other  consideration  whatever. 
During  all  the  negotiations,  I  felt  the  importance 
of  maintaining  the  friendly  relations  between  the 
great  English-speaking  people  of  this  country  and 
the  United  States,  which  I  believe  to  be  essential 
to  the  maintenance  of  peace  principles  throughout 
the  world,  and  I  feel  confident  that  the  continu- 
ance of  those  relations  will  exercise  a  vast  influence 
in  promoting  peace  and  civilization  throughout  the 
world.  —  Around  the  World. 

[From  a  Speech  at  Newcastle.] 

The  President  [of  the  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce] in  his  remarks  has  alluded  to  the  personal 
friendship  existing  between  the  two  nations.  I  will 
not  say  the  two  peoples,  because  we  are  one  people ; 
but  we  are  two  nations  having  a  common  destiny, 
and  that  destiny  will  be  brilliant  in  proportion  to 
the  friendship  and  co-operation  of  the  brethren  on 
the  two  sides  of  the  water.  .  .  .  These  are  two 

22 


338  CHIPS   FROM   THE   WHITE   HOUSE. 

nations  which  ought  to  be  at  peace  with  each 
other.  We  ought  to  strive  to  keep  at  peace  with 
all  the  world  besides,  and  by  our  example  stop 
those  wars  which  have  devastated  our  own  coun- 
tries, and  are  now  devastating  some  countries  in 
Europe.  —  Around  the  World. 


[From  a  Speech  to  the  workingmen  at  Newcastle.] 

I  was  always  a  man  of  peace,  and  I  have  always 
advocated  peace,  although  educated  a  soldier.  I 
never  willingly,  although  I  have  gone  through  two 
wars,  of  my  own  accord  advocated  war.  I  advo- 
cated what  I  believed  to  be  right,  and  I  have 
fought  for  it  to  the  best  of  my  ability,  in  order 
that  an  honorable  peace  might  be  secured. — Around 
the  World. 

Now,  there  is  one  subject  that  has  been  alluded 
to  here,  that  I  do  not  know  that  I  should  speak  upon 
at  all,  — I  have  heard  it  occasionally  whispered  since 
I  have  been  in  England,  —  and  that  is,  the  great 
advantages  that  would  accrue  to  the  United  States 
if  free  trade  should  only  be  established.  I  have  a 
sort  of  recollection,  through  reading,  that  England 
herself  had  a  protective  tariff  until  she  had  manu- 
factories somewhat  established.  I  think  we  are 
rapidly  progressing  in  the  way  of  establishing 
manufactories  ourselves,  and  I  believe  we  shall 


ULYSSES   S.    GRANT.  339 

become  one  of  the  greatest  free-trade  nations  on 
the  face  of  the  earth ;  and  when  we  both  come  to 
be  free-traders,  I  think  that  probably  the  balance  of 
the  nations  had  better  stand  aside,  and  not  contend 
with  us  at  all  in  the  markets  of  the  world.  — 
Around  the  World. 

[From  a  Conversation  with  Bismarck.] 

I  regard  Sheridan  as  not  only  one  of  the  great, 
soldiers  of  our  war,  but  one  of  the  great  sol- 
diers of  the  world,  —  as  a  man  who  is  fit  for  the 
highest  commands.  No  better  general  ever  lived 
than  Sheridan. 

The  truth  is,  I  am  more  of  a  farmer  than  a  sol- 
dier. I  take  little  or  no  interest  in  military 
affairs,  and,  although  I  entered  the  army  thirty- 
five  years  ago,  and  have  been  in  two  wars,  in 
Mexico  as  a  young  lieutenant,  and  later,  I  never 
went  into  the  army  without  regret,  and  never  re- 
tired without  pleasure.  — Around  the  World. 

[The  following  conversation  took  place  between  General 
Grant  and  Bismarck.] 

"  You  had  to  save  the  Union  just  as  we  had  to 

save  Germany." 

"  Not  only  save  the  Union,  but  destroy  slavery." 
"  I  suppose,  however,  the  Union  was  the  real 

sentiment,  the  dominant  sentiment  ?  " 


340  CHIPS   FEOM   THE    WHITE    HOUSE. 

"  In  the  beginning,  yes  ;  but  as  soon  as  slavery 
fired  upon  the  flag,  it  was  felt,  we  all  felt,  even 
those  who  did  not  object  to  slaves,  that  slavery 
must  be  destroyed.  We  felt  that  it  was  a  stain  to 
the  Union  that  men  should  be  bought  and  sold  like 
cattle." 

"  I  suppose  if  you  had  had  a  large  army  at  the 
beginning  of  the  war  it  would  have  ended  in  a 
much  shorter  time  ?  " 

"  We  might  have  had  no  war  at  all ;  but  we 
cannot  tell.  Our  war  had  many  strange  features ; 
there  were  many  things  which  seemed  odd  enough 
at  the  time,  but  which  now  seem  providential.  If 
we  had  had  a  larger  regular  army,  as  it  was  then 
constituted,  it  might  have  gone  with  the  South. 
In  fact,  the  Southern  feeling  in  the  army  among 
high  officers  was  so  strong  that  when  the  war 
broke  out  the  army  dissolved.  We  had  no  army. 
Then  we  had  to  organize  one.  A  great  com- 
mander like  Sherman  or  Sheridan  even  then  might 
have  organized  an  army  and  put  down  the  rebel- 
lion in  six  months  or  a  year,  or,  at  the  farthest, 
two  years.  But  that  would  have  saved  slavery, 
perhaps,  and  slavery  meant  the  germs  of  new  re- 
bellion. There  had  to  be  an  end  of  slavery. 
Then  we  were  fighting  an  enemy  with  whom  we 
could  not  make  a  peace.  We  had  to  destroy  him. 
No  convention,  no  treaty  was  possible,  only  de- 
struction." 


ULYSSES   S.    GRANT.  341 

"  It  was  a   long  war,  and   a  great  work  well 
done,  and  I  suppose  it  means  a  long  peace." 
"  I  believe  so."  —  Around  the  World. 

[From  a  letter  to  Governor  Chamberlain,  of  South  Carolina, 
July  26,  1876.] 

Too  long  denial  of  guaranteed  right  is  sure  to 
lead  to  revolution,  bloody  revolution,  where  suffer- 
ing must  fall  upon  the  innocent  as  well  as  the  guilty. 

[From  a  Speech  at  Galveston,  Texas,  March  25,  1880.] 

..."..  It  was  my  fortune,  more  than  a  third  of 
a  century  ago,  to  visit  Texas  as  Second  Lieutenant, 
and  to  have  been  one  of  those  who  went  into  the 
conflict  which  was  to  settle  the  boundary  of  Texas. 
I  am  glad  to  come  back  now  on  this  occasion  to  be- 
hold the  territory  which  is  an  empire,  in  itself,  and 
larger  than  some  of  the  empires  of  Europe.  I  wish 
for  the  people  of  Texas,  as  I  do  for  the  people  of 
the  entire  South,  that  they  may  go  on  developing 
their  resources,  and  become  great  and  powerful,  and 
in  their  prosperity  forget,  as  the  worthy  Mayor 
expressed  it,  that  there  is  a  boundary  between  the 
North  and  South.  I  am  sure  we  will  all  be  happier 
and  much  more  prosperous  when  the  day  comes 
that  there  shall  be  no  sectional  feeling.  Let  any 
American,  who  can  travel  abroad,  as  I  have  done, 
and  with  the  opportunity  of  witnessing  what  there 
is  to  be  seen  that  I  have  had,  and  he  will  return  to 


342  CHIPS   FROM   THE   WHITE   HOUSE. 

America  a  better  American  and  a  better  citizen  than 
when  he  went  away.  He  will  return  more  in  love 
with  his  own  country.  Far  be  it  from  me  to  find 
fault  with  any  of  the  European  Governments.  I 
was  well  received  at  their  hands  on  every  side,  by 
every  nation  in  Europe,  but  with  their  dense  pop- 
ulation and  their  worn-out  soil  it  takes  a  great  deal 
of  government  to  enable  the  people  to  get  from  the 
soil  a  bare  subsistence.  Here  we  have  rich  virgin 
soil,  with  room  enough  for  all  of  us  to  expand  and 
live,  with  the  use  of  very  little  government.  I  do 
hope  we  long  may  be  able  to  get  along  happily  and 
contentedly  without  being  too  much  governed." 

[From  a  Speech  at  Warren,  Ohio,  September  28,  1880.] 

In  view  of  the  known  character  and  ability  of  the 
speaker  who  is  to  address  you  to-day,  and  his  long 
public  career  and  association  with  the  leading  states- 
men of  this  country  for  the  past  twenty  years,  it 
would  not  be  becoming  in  me  to  detain  you  with 
many  remarks  of  my  own.  But  it  may  be  proper 
for  me  to  account  to  you  on  the  first  occasion  of 
my  presiding  at  political  meetings  for  the  faith  that 
is  in  me. 

I  am  a  Republican,  as  the  two  great  political 
parties  are  now  divided,  because  the  Republican 
party  is  a  National  party,  seeking  the  greatest  good 
for  the  greatest  number  of  citizens.  There  is  not 
a  precinct  in  this  vast  Nation  where  a  Democrat 


ULYSSES   S.    GRANT.  343 

cannot  cast  his  ballot  and  have  it  counted  as  cast. 
No  matter  what  the  prominence  of  the  opposite 
party,  he  can  proclaim  his  political  .opinions,  even 
if  he  is  only  one  among  a  thousand,  without  fear 
and  without  proscription  on  account  of  his  opinions,. 
There  are  fourteen  States,  and  localities  in  some 
other  States,  where  Eepublicans  have  not  this  priv- 
ilege. 

This  is  one  reason  why  I  am  a  Republican.  But 
I  am  a  Republican  for  many  other  reasons.  The 
Republican  party  assures  protection  to  life  and 
property,  the  public  credit  and  the  payment  of  the 
debts  of  the  Government,  State,  county,  or  muni- 
cipality so  far  as  it  can  control.  The  Democratic 
party  does  not  promise  this;  if  it  does,  it  has 
broken  its  promises  to  the  extent  of  hundreds  of 
millions,  as  many  Northern  Democrats  can  testify 
to  their  sorrow.  I  am  a  Republican,  as  between  the 
existing  parties,  because  it  fosters  the  production 
of  the  field  and  farm  and  of  manufactories,  and  it 
encourages  the  general  education  of  the  poor  as 
well  as  the  rich.  The  Democratic  party  discour- 
ages all  these  when  in  absolute  power.  The  Re- 
publican party  is  a  party  of  progress  and  of  liber- 
ality toward  its  opponents.  It  encourages*  the 
poor  to  strive  to  better  their  children,  to  enable 
them  to  compete  successfully  with  their  more  for- 
tunate associates,  and,  in  fine,  it  secures  an  entire 
equality  before  the  law  of  every  citizen,  no  matter 


344  CHIPS   FEOM   THE   WHITE   HOUSE. 

what  his  race,  nationality,  or  previous  condition. 
It  tolerates  no  privileged  class.  Every  one  has  the 
opportunity  to  make  himself  all  lie  is  capable  of. 

Ladies  and  gentlemen,  do  you  believe  this  can 
be  truthfully  said  in  the  greater  part  of  fourteen 
of  the  States  of  this  Union  to-day  which  the 
Democratic  party  controls  absolutely?  The  Re- 
publican party  is  a  party  of  principles,  the  same 
principles  prevailing  wherever  it  has  a  foot- 
hold. The  Democratic  party  is  united  in  but  one 
thing,  and  that  is  in  getting  control  of  the  Govern- 
ment in  all  its  branches.  It  is  for  internal  im- 
provement at  the  expense  of  the  Government  in 
one  section  and  against  this  in  another.  It  favors 
repudiation  of  solemn  obligations  in  one  section, 
and  honest  payment  of  its  debts  in  another,  where 
public  opinion  will  not  tolerate  any  other  view. 
It  favors  fiat  money  in  one  place  and  good  money 
in  another.  Finally,  it  favors  the  pooling  of  all 
issues  not  favored  by  the  Republicans,  to  the  end 
that  it  may  secure  the  one  principle  upon  which 
the  party  is  a  most  harmonious  unit,  namely,  get- 
ting control  of  the,  Government  in  all  its  branches. 

I  have  been  in  some  part  of  every  State  lately  in 
rebellion,  within  the  last  year.  I  was  most  hospi- 
tably received  at  every  place  where  I  stopped.  My 
receptions  were  not  by  the  Union  class  alone,  but 
by  all  classes,  without  distinction.  I  had  a  free 
talk  with  many  who  were  against  me  in  the  war, 


ULYSSES    8.    GRANT.  345 

and  who  have  been  against  the  Republican  party 
ever  since.  They  were  in  all  instances  reasonable 
men,  judged  by  what  they  said.  I  believed  then 
and  believe  now  that  they  sincerely  want  a  break- 
up in  this  "Solid  South  "political  condition.  They 
see  that  it  is  to  their  pecuniary  interest  as  well  as 
to  their  happiness  that  there  should  be  harmony 
and  confidence  between  all  sections.  They  want 
to  break  away  from  the  slavery  which  binds  them 
to  a  party  name.  They  want  a  pretext  that  enough 
of  them  can  unite  upon  to  make  it  respectable. 
Once  started,  the  Solid  South  will  go  as  Ku- 
kluxism  did  before,  as  is  so  admirably  told  by 
Judge  Tourgee  in  his  "Fool's  Errand."  When  the 
break  comes  those  who  start  it  will  be  astonished 
to  find  how  many  of  their  friends  have  been  in 
favor  of  it  for  a  long  time,  and  have  only  been 
waiting  to  see  some  one  take  the  lead.  This  desir- 
able solution  can  only  be  attained  by  the  defeat 
and  continued  defeat  of  the  Democratic  party  as 
now  constituted. 

[Speech  in  New  York,  November  20,  1880.] 

Now,  in  regard  to  the  future  of  myself,  which 
has  been  alluded  to  here,  I  am  entirely  satisfied 
as  I  am  to-day.  I  am  not  one  of  those  who  cry 
out  against  the  republic,  and  charge  it  with  being 
ungrateful.  I  am  sure  that,  as  regards  the  Amer- 
ican people,  as  a  nation  and  as  individuals,  I  have 


346  CHIPS  FROM  THE   WHITE   HOUSE. 

every  reason  under  the  sun,  if  any  person  really 
has,  to  be  satisfied  with  their  treatment  of  me. 

[Speech  in  New  York,  December  1,  1880.] 

The  government  owes  much  to  the  service  of  its 
volunteer  soldiers.  Too  much  credit  cannot  be 
paid  them.  The  very  fact  that  the  country  can 
raise  so  great  and  good  an  army,  in  such  an  emer- 
gency as  our  late  civil  war,  is  a  proof  that  we 
have  institutions  in  which  all  the  people  have  an 
equal  part;  that  we  have  a  government,  not  for 
the  privileged  class,  but  for  the  people  and  by  the 
people.  When  the  peaceful  citizen  changes  to  the 
soldier,  he  does  so  readily,  feeling  that  he  is  fight- 
ing for  himself  when  he  is  fighting  for  his  govern- 
ment. I  hope  and  feel  that  the  country  will  not 
again  have  to  call  upon  such  numbers  of  its  citi- 
zens for  support.  I  am  confident  that  we  will  not 
have  another  civil  war,  but  should  the  menaces  of 
a  foreign  foe  cause  a  call  to  arms,  we  will  find 
the  same  support  and  readiness  in  organizing  an 
army  as  in  1861. 


RUTHERFORD    B.    HAYES.  347 


RUTHERFORD  B.   HAYES. 

BORN,  1822.  — GRADUATED  AT  KENYON  COLLEGE,  O.,  1842.— 
MEMBER  OF  HARVARD  COLLEGE  LAW  SCHOOL.  —  BEGAN 
PRACTICE  OF  LAW,  1845.  —  MAJOR  IN  THE  UNION  ARMY, 
JUNE  7,  1861. —JUDGE  ADVOCATE  OF  THE  MILITARY  DE- 
PARTMENT OF  OHIO,  18C1.  — LIEUTENANT-COLONEL,  OCTO- 
BER 24,  1861.  — BRIGADIER-GENERAL,  MARCH  13,  1865.— 
ELECTED  TO  CONGRESS,  1865.  —  CHAIRMAN  OF  THE  LI- 
BRARY COMMITTEE.  —  RE-ELECTED,  1867.  —  GOVERNOR  OF 
OHIO  FOR  THREE  TERMS,  1868-1872.  —  PRESIDENT,  1877-1881. 

GIVE  me  the  popularity  that  runs  after,  not  that 
which  is  sought  for.  —  College  Diary. 

Judge  [Stanley]  Mathews  and  I  have  agreed  to 
go  into  the  service  for  the  war  —  if  possible,  into 
the  same  regiment.  I  spoke  my  feelings  to  him, 
which  he  said  were  his  own,  that  this  was  a  just 
and  a  necessary  war,  and  that  it  demanded  the 
whole  power  of  the  country ;  that  I  would  prefer 
to  go  into  it,  if  I  knew  I  was  to  be  killed  in  the 
course  of  it,  rather  than  to  live  through  and  after 
it  without  taking  any  part  in  it.  — May  15,  1861. 

[From  a  Speech  in  Ohio,  1867.] 

The  uniform  lesson  of  history  is,  that  unjust 
and  partial  laws  increase  and  create  antagonism, 


348  CHIPS   FROM   THE   WHITE   HOUSE. 

while  justice  and  equity  are  the  sure  foundation 

of  prosperity  and  peace 

The  truth  is,  that  every  step  made  in  advance 
towards  the  standard  of  the  right  has  in  the  event 
always  proved  a  safe  and  wise  step.  Lvery  step 
toward  the  right  has  proved  a  step  toward  the  ex- 
pedient; in  short,  that  in  politics,  in  morals,  in 
public  and  private  life,  the  right  is  always  ex- 
pedient. 

[From  a  Speech,  in  1867,  during  the  political  campaign.] 

Our  adversaries  are  accustomed  to  talk-  of  the 
rebellion  as  an  affair  which  began  when  the  rebels 
attacked  Fort  Sumter  in  1861,  and  which  ended 
when  Lee  surrendered  to  Grant,  in  1865.  .  .  . 
But  the  causes,  the  principles,  and  the  methods 
which  produced  the  rebellion  are  of  an  older  date 
than  the  generation  which  suffered  from  the  fruit 
they  bore,  and  their  influence  and  power  are  likely 
to  last  long  after  that  generation  passes  away. 
Ever  since  armed  rebellion  failed,  a  large  party  in 
the  South  have  struggled  to  make  participation  in 
the  rebellion  honorable,  and  loyalty  to  the  Union 
dishonorable.  The  lost  cause  with  them  is  the 
honored  cause.  In  society,  in  business,  and  in 
politics,  devotion  to  treason  is  the  test  of  merit, 
the  passport  to  preferment.  They  wish  to  return 
to  the  old  state  of  things,  an  oligarchy  of  race 
and  the  sovereignty  of  States. 


RUTHERFORD    B.    HAYES.  349 

To  defeat  this  purpose,  to  secure  the  rights  of 
man,  and  to  perpetuate  the  national  Union,  are  the 
objects  of  the  congressional  plan  of  reconstruction. 
.  .  .  There  are  now  within  the  limits  of  the  United 
States  about  five  millions  of  colored  people.  They 
are  not  aliens  or  strangers.  They  are  not  here  by 
the  choice  of  themselves  or  their  ancestors.  They 
are  here  by  the  misfortune  of  their  fathers  and  the 
crime  of  ours.  Their  labors,  privations,  and  suf- 
ferings, unpaid  and  unrequited,  have  cleared  and 
redeemed  one-third  of  the  inhabited  territory  of 
the  Union.  Their  toil  has  added  to  the  resources 
and  wealth  of  the  nation  untold  millions.  Whether 
we  prefer  it  or  not,  they  are  our  countrymen,  and 
will  remain  so  forever. 

They  are  more  than  our  countrymen  —  they  are 
citizens.  Free  colored  people  were  citizens  of  the 
colonies.  The  constitution  of  the  United  States, 
formed  by  our  fathers,  created  no  disablities  on 
account  of  color.  By  the  acts  of  our  fathers  and 
of  ourselves,  they  bear  equally  the  burdens,  and 
are  required  to  discharge  the  highest  duties  of  citi- 
zens. They  are  compelled  to  pay  taxes  i  and  bear 
arms.  They  fought  side  by  side  with  their  white 
countr}Tnen  in  the  great  struggle  for  independence, 
and  in  the  recent  war  for  the  Union.  .  .  .  Slaves 
were  never  voters.  It  was  bad  enough  that  our 
fathers,  for  the  sake  of  union,  were  compelled  to 
ullow  masters  to  reckon  three-fifths  of  their  slaves 


348  CHIPS   FROM   THE    WHITE    HOUSE. 

while  justice  and  equity  are  the  sure  foundation 

of  prosperity  and  peace 

The  truth  is,  that  every  step  made  in  advance 
towards  the  standard  of  the  right  has  in  the  event 
always  proved  a  safe  and  wise  step.  Every  step 
toward  the  right  has  proved  a  step  toward  the  ex- 
pedient ;  in  short,  that  in  politics,  in  morals,  in 
public  and  private  life,  the  right  is  always  ex- 
pedient. 

[From  a  Speech,  in  1867,  during  the  political  campaign.] 

Our  adversaries  are  accustomed  to  talk-  of  the 
rebellion  as  an  affair  which  began  when  the  rebels 
attacked  Fort  Sumter  in  1861,  and  which  ended 
when  Lee  surrendered  to  Grant,  in  1865.  .  .  . 
But  the  causes,  the  principles,  and  the  methods 
which  produced  the  rebellion  are  of  an  older  date 
than  the  generation  which  suffered  from  the  fruit 
they  bore,  and  their  influence  and  power  are  likely 
to  last  long  after  that  generation  passes  away. 
Ever  since  armed  rebellion  failed,  a  large  party  in 
the  South  have  struggled  to  make  participation  in 
the  rebellion  honorable,  and  loyalty  to  the  Union 
dishonorable.  The  lost  cause  with  them  is  the 
honored  cause.  In  society,  in  business,  and  in 
politics,  devotion  to  treason  is  the  test  of  merit, 
the  passport  to  preferment.  They  wish  to  return 
to  the  old  state  of  things,  an  oligarchy  of  race 
and  the  sovereignty  of  States. 


RUTHERFORD   B.    HAYES.  349 

To  defeat  this  purpose,  to  secure  the  rights  of 
man,  and  to  perpetuate  the  national  Union,  are  the 
objects  of  the  congressional  plan  of  reconstruction. 
.  .  .  There  are  now  within  the  limits  of  the  United 
States  about  five  millions  of  colored  people.  They 
are  not  aliens  or  strangers.  They  are  not  here  by 
the  choice  of  themselves  or  their  ancestors.  They 
are  here  by  the  misfortune  of  their  fathers  and  the 
crime  of  ours.  Their  labors,  privations,  and  suf- 
ferings, unpaid  and  unrequited,  have  cleared  and 
redeemed  one-third  of  the  inhabited  territory  of 
the  Union.  Their  toil  has  added  to  the  resources 
and  wealth  of  the  nation  untold  millions.  Whether 
we  prefer  it  or  not,  they  are  our  countrymen,  and 
will  remain  so  forever. 

They  are  more  than  our  countrymen  —  they  are 
citizens.  Free  colored  people  were  citizens  of  the 
colonies.  The  constitution  of  the  United  States, 
formed  by  our  fathers,  created  no  disablities  on 
account  of  color.  By  the  acts  of  our  fathers  and 
of  ourselves,  they  bear  equally  the  burdens,  and 
are  required  to  discharge  the  highest  duties  of  citi- 
zens. They  are  compelled  to  pay  taxes  j  and  bear 
arms.  They  fought  side  by  side  with  their  white 
countrymen  in  the  great  struggle  for  independence, 
and  in  the  recent  war  for  the  Union.  .  .  .  Slaves 
were  never  voters.  It  was  bad  enough  that  our 
fathers,  for  the  sake  of  union,  were  compelled  to 
yllow  masters  to  reckon  three-fifths  of  their  slaves 


350  CHIPS   FROM  THE   WHITE   HOUSE. 

for  representation,  without  adding  slave  suffrage 
to  the  other  privileges  of  the  slaveholders.  But 
free  colored  men  were  always  voters  in  many  of 
the  colonies,  and  in  several  of  the  States,  North 
and  South,  after  independence  was  achieved. 
They  voted  for  members  of  the  Congress  which 
declared  independence,  and  for  members  of  every 
Congress  prior  to  the  adoption  of  the  federal  con- 
stitution ;  for  the  members  of  the  convention 
which  framed  the  constitution ;  for  the  members 
of  many  of  the  State  conventions  which  ratified 
it,  and  for  every  president,  from  Washington  to 
Lincoln. 

Our  government  has  been  called  the  white  man's 
government.  Not  so.  It  is  not  the  government 
of  any  class,  or  sect,  or  nationality,  or  race.  It 
is  a  government  founded  on  the  consent  of  the 
governed.  It  is  not  the  government  of  the  native- 
born,  or  of  the  foreign-born,  of  the  rich  man,  or 
of  the  poor  man,  of  the  white  man,  or  of  the  col- 
ored man —  it  is  the  government  of  the  freeman. 
And  when  colored  men  were  made  citizens,  sol- 
diers, and  freemen,  by  our  consent  and  votes,  we 
were  estopped  from  denying  to  them  the  right  of 
suffrage . 

To  corrupt  the  ballot-box  is  to  destroy  our  free 
institutions.  — 1868. 


RUTHERFORD    B.    HAYES.  351 

[From  the  Annual  Message,  as  Governor  of  Ohio,  1869.] 

All  agree  that  a  Republican  government  will  fail  ^ 
unless  the  purity  of  elections  is  preserved.  Con- 
vinced that  great  abuses  of  the  electoral  franchise 
cannot  be  prevented  under  existing  legislation,  I 
have  heretofore  recommended  the  enactment  of  a 
registry  law,  and  also  some  appropriate  measure 
to  secure  to  the  minority,  as  far  as  practicable,  a 
representation  upon  all  boards  of  elections. 

[From  the  Inaugural  Address,  as  Governor,  1870.] 

Our  judicial  system  is  plainly  inadequate 

to  the  wants  of  the  people  of  the  State.  Exten- 
sive alterations  of  existing  provisions  must  be 
made.  The  suggestions  I  desire  to  present  in  this 
connection  are  as  to  the  manner  of  electing  judges, 
their  terms  of  office,  and  their  salaries.  It  is  for- 
tunately true  that  the  judges  of  our  courts  have 
heretofore  been,  for  the  most  part,  lawyers  of 
learning,  ability,  and  integrity.  But  it  must  be 
remembered  that  the  tremendous  events  and  the 
wonderful  progress  of  the  last  few  years  are  work- 
ing great  changes  in  the  condition  of  our  society. 
Hitherto,  population  has  been  sparse,  property  not 
unequally  distributed,  and  the  bad  elements  which 
so  frequently  control  large  cities  have  been  almost 
unknown  in  our  State.  But  with  a  dense  popula- 
tion crowding  into  towns  and  cities,  with  vast 


352  CHIPS  FKOM  THE   WHITE   HOUSE. 

wealth  accumulating  in  the  hands  of  a  few  persons 
or  corporations,  it  is  to  be  apprehended  that  the 
time  is  coming  when  judges  elected  by  popular 
vote,  for  short  official  terms,  and  poorly  paid,  Avill 
not  possess  the  independence  required  to  protect 
individual  rights.  Under  the  National  Constitu- 
tion judges  are  nominated  by  the  Executive  and 
confirmed  by  the  Senate,  and  hold  office  during 
good  behavior.  It  is  worthy  of  consideration 
whether  a  return  to  the  system  established  by  the 
fathers  is  not  the  dictate  of  the  highest  prudence. 
I  believe  that  a  system  under  which  judges  are  so 
appointed,  for  long  terms  and  with  adequate  sala- 
ries, will  afford  to  the  citizen  the  amplest  possible 
security  that  impartial  justice  will  be  administered 
by  an  independent  judiciary. 

[From  a  Speech  at  Columbus,  Ohio,  1870.] 

The  sectarian  agitation  against  the  pub- 
lic schools  was  begun  many  years  ago.  During 
the  last  few  years  it  has  steadily  and  rapidly  in- 
creased, and  has  been  encouraged  by  various  indi- 
cations of  possible  success.  It  extends  to  all  of 
the  states  where  schools  at  the  common  expense 
have  been  long  established.  Its  triumphs  are 
mainly  in  the  large  towns  and  cities.  It  has 
already  divided  the  schools,  and  in  a  considerable 
degree  impaired  and  limited  their  usefulness. 

The  glory  of  the  American  system  of  education 


RUTHERFORD    B.    HAYES.  353 

has  been,  that  it  was  so  cheap  that  the  humblest 
citizen  could  afford  to  give  his  children  its  advan- 
tages, and  so  good  that  the  man  of  wealth  could 
nowhere  provide  for  his  children  anything  better. 
This  gave  the  system  its  most  conspicuous  merit. 
It  made  it  a  republican  system.  The  young  of 
all  conditions  of  life  are  brought  together,  and 
educated  on  terms  of  perfect  equality.  The  ten- 
dency of  this  is  to  assimilate  and  to  fuse  together 
the  various  elements  of  our  population,  to  promote 
unity,  harmony,  and  general  good-will  in  our 
American  society. 

But  the  enemies  of  the  American  system  have 
begun  the  work  of  destroying  it.  They  have  forced 
away  from  the  public  schools,  in  many  towns  and 
cities,  one  third  or  one  fourth  of  their  pupils,  and 
sent  them  to  schools,  which,  it  is  safe  to  say,  are  no 
whit  superior  to  those  they  have  left.  These  youths 
are  thus  deprived  of  the  associations  and  the  educa- 
tion in  practical  republicanism  and  American  senti- 
ment which  they  peculiarly  need. 

Nobody  questions  their  constitutional  and  legal 
right  to  do  this,  and  to  do  it  by  denouncing  the 
public  schools.  Sectarians  have  a  lawful  right  to  say 
that  these  schools  are  "  a  relict  of  paganism  —  that 
they  are  "godless,"  and  that  "the  secular  school- 
system  is  a  social  cancer."  But  when,  having  thus 
succeeded  in  dividing  the  schools,  they  make  that 
a  ground  for  abolishing  school  taxation,  dividing 

23 


354  CHIPS   FROM  THE   WHITE  HOUSE. 

the  school  fund,  or  otherwise  destroying  the  system, 
it  is  time  that  its  friends  should  rise  up  in  its  de- 
fence. 

We  all  agree  that  neither  the  government  nor 
political  parties  ought  to  interfere  with  religious 
sects.  It  is  equally  true  that  religious  sects  ought 
not  to  interfere  with  the  government  or  with  politi- 
cal parties.  We  believe  that  the  cause  of  good 
government  and  the  cause  of  religion  both  suffer 
by  all  such  interference.  But  if  sectarians  make 
demands  for  legislation,  of  political  parties,  and 
threaten  a  party  with  opposition  at  the  elections  in 
case  the  required  enactments  are  not  passed,  and  if 
the  political  party  yields  to  such  threats,  then  those 
threatenings,  those  demands,  and  that  act  of  the 
political  party  become  a  legitimate  subject  of  polit- 
ical discussion,  and  the  sectarians  who  thus  inter- 
fere with  the  legislation  of  the  State  are  alone 
responsible  for  the  agitation  which  follows. 

[From  his  Annual  Message,  as  Governor  of  Ohio,  January, 
1871.     Civil  Service  Reform.] 

What  the  public  welfare  demands  is  a 

practical  measure  which  will  provide  for  a  thorough 
and  impartial  investigation  in  every  case  of  sus- 
pected neglect,  abuse,  or  fraud.  Such  an  investi- 
gation to  be  effective  must  be  made  by  an  authori- 
ty independent,  if  possible,  of  all  local  influences. 
When  abuses  are  discovered,  the  prosecution  and 


RUTHERFORD    B.    HAYES.  355 

punishment  of  offenders  ought  to  follow.  But 
even  if  prosecutions  fail  in  cases  of  full  exposure, 
public  opinion  almost  always  accomplishes  the  ob- 
ject desired.  A  thorough  investigation  of  corrup- 
tion and  criminality  leads  with  great  certainty  to 
the  needed  reform.  Publicity  is  a  great  corrector 
of  abuses. 

[From  a  Speech  at  Glendale,  Ohio,  1872.] 

We  want  a  financial  policy  so  honest  that 

there  can  be  no  stain  on  the  national  honor,  and  no 
taint  on  the  national  credit ;  so  stable  that  labor 
and  capital  and  legitimate  business  of  every  sort 
can  confidently  count  upon  what  it  will  be  the 
next  week,  the  next  month,  and  the  next  year. 
We  want  the  burdens  of  taxation  so  justly  dis- 
tributed, that  they  will  bear  equally  upon  all 
classes  of  citizens  in  proportion  to  their  ability  to 
sustain  them.  We  want  our  currency  gradually 
to  appreciate  until,  without  financial  shock  or  any 
sudden  shrinkage  of  values,  but  in  the  natural 
course  of  trade,  it  shall  reach  the  uniform  and  per- 
manent value  of  gold. 

[From  a  Speech  at  Marion,  Ohio,  1872.] 
The  objections  to  an  inflated  and  irredeemable 
paper  currency  are  so  many  that  I  do  not  attempt 
to  state  them  all.  ...  It  promotes  speculation 
and  extravagance,  and  at  the  same  time  discour- 
ages legitimate  business,  honest  labor,  and  econ- 


356  CHIPS   FEOM   THE   WHITE   HOUSE. 

omy.  It  dries  up  the  true  sources  of  individual 
and  public  prosperity.  Overtrading  and  fast  liv- 
ing always  go  with  it ;  it  stimulates  the  desire  to 
incur  debt ;  it  causes  high  rates  of  interest ;  it 
increases  importations  from  abroad ;  it  has  no 
fixed  value  ;  it  is  liable  to  frequent  and  great  fluc- 
tuations, thereby  rendering  every  pecuniary  en- 
gagement precarious,  and  disturbing  all  existing 
contracts  and  expectations.  It  is  the  parent  of 
panics.  Every  period  of  inflation  is  followed  by 
a  loss  of  confidence,  a  shrinkage  of  values,  depres- 
sion of  business,  panics,  lack  of  employment,  and 
wide-spread  disaster  and  distress.  The  heaviest 
part  of  the  calamity  falls  on  those  least  able  to 
bear  it.  The  wholesale  dealer,  the  middle-man, 
and  the  retailer,  always  endeavor  to  cover  the 
risks  of  the  fickle  standards  of  value  by  raising 
their  prices.  But  the  men  of  small  means  and  the 
laborer  are  thrown  out  of  employment,  and  want 
and  suffering  are  liable  soon  to  follow. 

When  government  enters  upon  the  experiment 
of  issuing  irredeemable  paper  money,  there  can  be 
no  fixed  limit  to  its  volume.  The  amount  will  de- 
pend on  the  interest  of  leading  politicians,  on  their 
whims,  and  on  the  excitement  of  the  hour.  It  af- 
fords such  facilities  for  contracting  debt  that  ex- 
travagance and  corrupt  government  expenditures 
are  the  sure  result.  Under  the  name  of  public 
improvements,  the  wildest  enterprises,  contrived 


RUTHERFORD    B.    HAYES.  357 

for  private  gain,  are  undertaken.  Indefinite  ex- 
pansion becomes  the  rule,  and,  in  the  end,  bank- 
ruptcy, ruin,  and  repudiation. 

[From  an  Address  at  the  Dedication  of  a  Soldiers1  Monu- 
ment in  Findley,  Ohio,  1875.] 

I  know  not  how  many  of  them  [the  fal- 
len soldiers]  have  been  gathered  into  the  ceme- 
teries near  their  homes ;  I  know  not  how  many 
others  have  been  gathered  into  the  beautiful  na- 
tional cemeteries  near  the  great  battle-fields.  I 
know  not  how  many  are  lying  in  swamps,  along 
the  mountain  sides,  in  nameless  graves,  —  the  un- 
known heroes  of  the  Union ;  but  wherever  they 
are,  and  however  many  there  may  be,  you  people 
of  Hancock  County  have  erected  your  monument 
to  all  who  fell,  who  left  your  county.  All  sol- 
diers, I  am  sure,  feel  like  thanking  you  for  this. 

I  remember  well  the  first  of  the  saddest  days  of 
my  life  was  after  one  of  our  great  battles  in  the 
early  period  of  the  war.  Recovering  from  wounds 
with  other  comrades  who  had  been  wounded  there, 
we  passed  near  the  battle-field,  as  soon  as  we  felt 
able  to  do  so  ;  and  when  we  came  there,  what  did 
we  learn?  Passing  up  the  mountain,  charging  the 
line  of  the  enemy,  they  fell ;  and  everywhere  were 
the  shallow  graves  in  which  were  deposited  the  re- 
mains of  our  seven  hundred  companions  who  had 
fallen.  And  how  were  they  buried?  and  how 


358  CHIPS   FROM  THE  WHITE   HOUSE. 

was  their  last  resting-place  marked?  Hastily, 
tende"rly,  no  doubt,  the  parties  detailed  to  bury 
them  had  gathered  up  their  remains.  You  soldiers 
know  how  it  was  done.  They  placed  upon  the 
face  of  each  man  who  died,  whenever  they  could 
ascertain  his  name,  a  piece  of  an  envelope,  or  a 
scrap  of  a  letter,  or  something  of  the  kind,  con- 
taining his  name,  his  company,  his  regiment, 
fastening  it  there,  hoping  some  day  his  friends 
might  come  and  find  him,  and  learn  who  was  there 
buried.  And  then,  you  remember,  there  were  no 
coffins,  nothing  of  the  sort ;  but  they  took  the 
blue  overcoat  and  placed  it  around  the  man,  and 
took  the  cape,  and  bringing  it  over  the  face, 
fastened  it  down.  This  was  his  shroud ;  this  was 
his  coffin ;  and  he  was  placed  away  to  rest  until 
the  resurrection  morn.  That  was  the  manner  of 
his  burial.  And  strange,  I  may  say,  was  the  re- 
sult of  that  woollen  material  over  the  face  ;  satu- 
rated in  the  water  and  covered  with  the  earth,  it  did 
so  protect  them  from  decay  that  months  afterwards 
many  were  recognized  by  their  friends,  preserved 
as  they  were  by  the  overcoat-cape.  And  how  was 
the  grave  marked  ?  With  a  pencil  they  scratched 
upon  a  piece  of  fine  board  —  a  thin  piece  of 
cracker-box  —  the  name  and  company,  which  was 
placed  at  the  grave.  This  was  all  then ;  and  we 
did  not  know  what  the  result  would  be.  We  did 
not  know  what  friends  would  do,  what  monuments 
would  be  reared. 


RUTHERFORD    B.    HAYES.  359 

As  we  left  that  field,  talking  to  each  other,  we 
said  there  must  be  a  soldiers'  monument  for  the 
soldiers  of  our  regiment. 

After  the  famous  Antietam  campaign 

was  fought,  we  called  the  men  together — four 
hundred  and  fifty  or  five  hundred  men, — and  from 
the  scanty  pay  which  was  to  support  the  men,  and 
to  some  extent,  their  families,  the  majority  of  the 
remainder  subscribed  at  least  one  dollar,  and  others 
more,  according  to  their  ability,  and  raised  in  the 
regiment  two  thousand  dollars  to  build  a  monu- 
ment, on  which,  it  was  agreed,  should  be  inscribed 
the  name  of  every  man  in  the  regiment  who  had 
fallen,  and  every  man  who  should  fall  during  the 
continuance  of  the  war. 

[From  his  Letter  of  Acceptance  of  the  Nomination  for  the 
Presidency,  by  the  Republican  National  Convention.] 

COLUMBUS,  OHIO,  July  8,  1876. 

The  fifth  resolution   adopted   by  the 

Convention  is  of  paramount  interest.  More  than 
forty  years  ago,  a  system  of  making  appointments 
to  office  grew  up  based  upon  the  maxim,  "  To  the 
victors  belong  the  spoils."  The  old  rule, — the 
true  rule, — that  honesty,  capability,  and  fidelity 
constitute  the  only  real  qualifications  for  office, 
and  that  there  is  no  other  claim,  gave  place  to  the 
idea  that  party  services  were  chiefly  to  be  con- 
sidered. All  parties  in  practice  have  adopted  this 


362  CHIPS   FROM   THE    WHITE    HOUSE. 


[From  his  Message,  vetoing  the  Silver  Bill,  February  28, 
1878.] 

National  promises  should  be  kept  with  unflinch- 
ing fidelity.  There  is  no  power  to  compel  a  nation 
to  pay  its  just  debts.  Its  credit  depends  on  its 
honor.  The  nation  owes  what  it  has  led  or  allowed 
its  creditors  to  expect.  I  cannot  approve  a  bill 
which,  in  my  judgment,  authorizes  the  violation  of 
sacred  obligations.  The  obligation  to  the  public 
faith  transcends  all  questions  of  profit  or  public 
advantage.  Its  unquestionable  maintenance  is  the 
dictate  as  well  of  the  highest  expediency  as  of  the 
most  necessary  duty,  and  should  ever  be  carefully 
guarded  by  the  Executive,  by  Congress,  and  by 
the  people. 

[From  the  Message  vetoing  the  Chinese  Bill,  restricting 
Chinese  immigration.] 

The  principal  feature  of  the  Burlingame  treaty 
was  its  attention  to  and  its  treatment  of  the  Chinese 
immigration,  and  the  Chinese  as  forming,  or  as  they 
should  form,  a  part  of  our  population.  Up  to  this 
time  (1859)  the  uncovenantcd  hospitality  to  immi- 
gration, our  fearless  liberality  of  citizenship,  our 
equal  and  comprehensive  justice  to  all  inhabitants, 
whether  they  abjured  their  foreign  nationality  or 
not,  our  civil  freedom  and  our  religious  toleration 
had  made  all  comers  welcome,  and  under  these  pro- 


RUTHERFORD    B.    HAYES.  363 

tections  the  Chinese,  in  considerable  numbers.,  Lad 
made  their  lodgment  upon  our  soil.   .  .   •.  .  . 

Unquestionably  the  adhesion  of  the  government 
of  China  to  these  liberal  principles  of  freedom  in 
emigration,  with  which  we  were  so  familiar,  and 
with  which  we  were  so  well  satisfied,  was  a  great 
advance  toward  opening  that  empire  to  our  civili- 
zation and  religion,  and  gave  promise  in  the  future 
of  greater  and  greater  practical  results  in  the  diffu- 
sion, throughout  that  great  population,  of  our  arts 
and  industries,  our  manufactures,  our  material  im- 
provements, and  the  sentiments  of  government  and 
religion  which  seem  to  us  so  important  to  the  wel- 
fare of  mankind.  The  first  clause  of  this  article 
[of  the  Treaty]  secures  this  acceptance  by  China 
of  the  American  doctrine  of  free  emigration  to  and 
fro  among  the  people  and  races  of  the  earth. 

[Veto  Message  —  Military  Bill,  April  29,  1879.] 

It  is  the  right  of  every  citizen,  possessing  the 
qualifications  prescribed  by  law,  to  cast  one  unin- 
timidated  ballot,  and  to  have  his  ballot  honestly 
counted. 

[From  the  Veto  of  the  Bill  "  to  prohibit  military  interfer- 
ence at  elections,"  May  12,  1879.] 

Under  the  sweeping  terms  of  the  bill,  the  national 
government  is  effectually  shut  out  from  the  exercise 
of  the  right,  and  from  the  discharge  of  the  impera- 


364  CHIPS   FROM   THE   WHITE   HOUSE. 

tive  4utyj  to  use  its  whole  executive  power,  when- 
ever and  wherever  required,  for  the  enforcement 
of  its  laws,  at  the  places  and  times  when  and  where 
its  elections  are  held.  The  employment  of  its  or- 
ganized armed  forces  for  any  such  purpose  would 
be  an  offence  against  the  law,  unless  called  for  by, 
and,  therefore,  upon  permission  of,  the  authorities 
of  the  States  in  which  the  occasion  arises.  What 
is  this  but  the  substitution  of  the  discretion  of  the 
State  governments  for  the  discretion  of  the  govern- 
ment of  the  United ,  States  as  to  the  performance 
of  its  own  duties?  In  my  judgment,  this  is  an 
abandonment  of  its  obligations  by  the  national 
government ;  a  subordination  of  national  authority, 
and  an  intrusion  of  State  supervision  over  national 
duties,  which  amounts,  in  spirit  and  tendency,  to 
State  supremacy. 

[Veto  of  the  Bill  regulating  the  pay  and  appointment  of 
United  States  Deputy  Marshals,  June  15,  1880.] 

We  hold  it  to  be  an  incontrovertible  principle 
that  the  Government  of  the  United  States  may, 
by  means  of  physical  force,  exercised  through  its 
official  agents,  execute  in  every  foot  of  American 
soil  the  power  and  functions  that  belong  to  it. 

[From  the  Veto  Message  —  Army  Appropriation  Bill.] 

Upon  the  assembling  of  this  [forty-sixth] 

Congress,  in  pursuance  of  a  call  for  an  extra  ses- 


RUTHERFORD    B.    HAYES.  365 

sion,  which  was  made  necessary  by  the  failure  of 
the  Forty-fifth  Congress  to  make  the  needful  ap- 
propriations for  the  support  of  the  government, 
the  question  was  presented  whether  the  attempt 
made  in  the  last  Congress  to  engraft,  by  construc- 
tion, a  new  principle  upon  the  Constitution,  should 
be  persisted  in  or  not.  This  Congress  has  ample 
opportunity  and  time  to  pass  the  appropriation  bills, 
and  also  to  enact  any  political  measures  which  may 
be  determined  upon  in  separate  bills  by  the  usual 
and  orderly  methods  of  proceeding.  But  the  ma- 
jority of  both  Houses  have  deemed  it  wise  to 
adhere  to  the  principles  asserted  and  maintained  in 
the  last  Congress  by  the  majority  of  the  House  of 
Representatives.  That  principle  is  that  the  House 
of  Representatives  has  the  sole  right  to  originate 
bills  for  raising  revenue,  and  therefore  has  the 
right  to  withhold  appropriations  upon  which  the 
existence  of  the  government  may  depend,  unless 
the  Senate  and  the  President  shall  give  their  assent 
to  any  legislation  which  the  House  may  see  fit  to 
attach  to  appropriation  bills.  To  establish  this 
principle  is  to  make  a  radical,  dangerous,  and  un- 
constitutional change  in  the  character  of  our  insti- 
tutions  

The  enactment  of  this  bill  into  a  law  will  estab- 
lish a  precedent  which  will  tend  to  destroy  the 
equal  independence  of  the  several,  branches  of  the 
government.  Its  principle  places,  not  merely  the 


366  CHIPS   FROM   THE    WHITE    HOUSE. 

Senate  and  the  Executive,  but  the  judiciary  also, 
under  the  coercive  dictation  of  the  House.  The 
House  alone  will  be  the  judge  of  what  constitutes 
a  grievance,  and  also  of  the  means  and  measures 
of  redress. 

[From  an  Address  at  the  Annual  Reunion  of  the  23d  Regi- 
ment, Ohio  Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry,  at  Youngstown, 
Ohio.] 

No  man  has  ever  stated  the  issues  of  the  civil 
war  more  fully,  more  clearly,  or  more  accurately 
than  Mr.  Lincoln.  In  any  inquiry  as  to  what  may 
fairly  be  included  among  the  things  settled  by  our 
victory,  all  just  and  patriotic  minds  instinctively 
turn  to  Mr.  Lincoln.  To  him,  more  than  to  any  other 
man,  the  cause  of  Union  and  liberty  is  indebted  for 
its  final  triumph.  Besides,  with  all  his  wonderful 
sagacity,  and  wisdom,  and  logical  faculty,  dwelling 
intently,  and  anxiously,  and  prayerfully,  during 
four  years  of  awful  trial  and  responsibility,  on  the 
questions  which  were  continually  arising  to  perplex 
and  almost  confound  him,  he  at  last  became  the 
very  embodiment  of  the  principles  by  which  the 
country  and  its  liberties  were  saved.  All  good 
citizens  may  now  well  listen  to  and  heed  his  words. 
None  have  more  reason  to  do  it  with  respect  and 
confidence,  and  a  genuine  regard,  than  those  whom 
he  addressed  in  his  first  inaugural  speech  as  "  my 
dissatisfied  fellow-countrymen."  The  leader  of 


EUTHEEFOED    B.    HAYES.  367 

the  Union  cause  was  so  just  and  moderate,  and 
patient  and  humane,  that  many  supporters  of  the 
Union  thought  that  he  did  not  go  far  enough  or  fast 
enough,  and  assailed  his  opinions  and  his  conduct ; 
but  now  all  men  begin  to  see  that  the  plain  people, 
who  at  last  came  to  love  him  and  to  lean  upon  his 
wisdom  and  firmness  with  absolute  trust,  were 
altogether  right,  and  that  in  deed  and  purpose  he 
was  earnestly  devoted  to  the  welfare  of  the  whole 
country,  and  of  all  its  inhabitants. 

Touching  the  remaining  important  controversy 
settled  by  the  war,  the  public  avowals  of  opinion 
are  almost  all  in  favor  of  the  faithful  acceptance  of 
the  new  constitutional  amendments.  On  this  sub- 
ject the  speeches  of  public  men  and  the  creeds  and 
platforms  of  the  leading  political  parties  have  for 
some  years  past  been  explicit.  In  1872,  all  parties 
in  their  respective  National  Conventions  adopted 
resolutions  recognizing  the  equality  of  all  men  be- 
fore the  law,  and  pledging  themselves,  in  the  words 
of  the  Democratic  National  Convention,  "to  main- 
tain emancipation  and  enfranchisement,  and  to 
oppose  the  reopening  of  the  questions  settled  by 
the  recent  amendments  to  the  Constitution."  In 
1876,  the  great  political  parties  again,  in  the  lan- 
guage of  the  St.  Louis  National  Convention, 
affirmed  their  "  devotion  to  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States,  with  its  amendments  universally 


368  CHIPS   FEOM   THE   WHITE   HOUSE. 

accepted  as  a  final  settlement  of  the  controversies 
that  engendered  the  civil  war."  Notwithstanding 
these  declarations,  we  are  compelled  to  take  notice 
that,  while  very  few  citizens  anywhere  would  wish 
to  re-establish  slavery  if  they  could,  and  no  one 
would  again  attempt  to  break  up  the  Union  by 
secession,  there  still  remains  in  some  communities 
a  dangerous  practical  denial  to  the  colored  citizens 
of  the  political  rights  which  are  guaranteed  to  them 
by  the  Constitution  as  it  now  is.  In  the  crisis  of 
the  war  Mr.  Lincoln  appealed  to  the  colored  people 
to  take  up  arms.  About  two  hundred  thousand 
responded  to  the  call,  enlisted  in  the  Union  armies, 
and  fought  for  the  Union  cause  under  the  Union 
flag.  Equality  of  rights  for  the  colored  people, 
from  that  time,  thus  became  one  of  the  essential 
issues  of  the  war.  General  Sherman  said,  "  when 
the  fight  is  over,  the  hand  that  drops  the  musket 
cannot  be  denied  the  ballot."  Jefferson  said  long 
before,  "  the  man  who  fights  for  the  country  is  en- 
titled to  vote."  When,  with  the  help  of  the 
colored  men,  the  victory  was  gained,  the  Fifteenth 
Amendment  followed  naturally  as  one  of  its  legiti- 
mate results.  No  man  can  truthfully  claim  that  he 
faithfully  accepts  the  true  settlements  of  the  war, 
who  sees  with  indifference  the  Fifteenth  Amend- 
ment practically  nullified. 

No  one  can  overstate  the  evils  which  the  country 
must  suffer  if  lawless  and  violent  opposition  to  the 


RUTHERFOED    B.    HAYES.  369 

enjoyment  of  constitutional  rights  is  allowed  to  be 
permanently  successful.  The  lawlessness  which 
to-day  assails  the  rights  of  the  colored  people  will 
find  other  victims  to-morrow.  This  question  be- 
longs to  no  race,  to  no  party,  and  to  no  section. 
It  is  a  question  in  which  the  whole  country  is 
deeply  interested,  f 

Patriotism,  justice,  humanity,  and  our  material  / 
interests,  all  plead  on  the  right  side  of  this  ques-l 
tion.     The  colored  people  are  the  laborers  who| 
produce  the  cotton  which,  going  abroad  to  the  mar- 
kets of  the  world,  gives  us  that  favorable  balance 
of  trade  which  is  now  doing  so  much  for  the  revival 
of  all  business.     The  whole  fabric  of  society  rests 
upon  labor.     If  free  laborers  suifer  from  oppres-  . 
sion  and  injustice,  they  will  either  become  discon- 1 
tented  and  turbulent,  destroyers  of  property,  and/ 
not  producers  of  property,  or  they  will  abandon 
the  communities  which  deprive  them  of  their  in- 
alienable rights.     In  either  case,  social  order  and 
the  peaceful  industries  upon  wThich  prosperity  de- 
pends, are  imperilled  and  perhaps  sacrificed.  It  will 
not  do  to  say  that  this  is  an  affair  which  belongs 
solely  to  the  distant  States  of  the    South.     The 
whole  country  must  suffer  if  this  question  is  not 
speedily  settled,  and  settled  rightly.     Where  the 
two  races  are  numerous,  prosperity  can  only  exist 
by  the  united  and  harmonious  efforts  of  both  the 
white  people  and  the  colored  people.     The  only 

24 


370  CHIPS    FROM    THE   WHITE    HOUSE. 

solid  foundations  for  peace  and  progress  in  such 
communities  are  equal  and  exact  justice  to  both 
races.  Consider  the  present  situation.  Whatever 
complaints  may  have  been  heard  during  the  prog- 
ress of  reconstruction,  candid  men  must  admit 
that  all'sections  and  all  States  are  now  equally  re- 
garded, and  share  alike  the  rights,  the  privileges, 
and  the  benefits  of  the  common  Government.  All 
that  is  needed  for  the  permanent  pacification  of  the 
country  is  the  cordial  co-operation  of  all  well-dis- 
posed citizens  to  secure  the  faithful  observance  of 
the  equal-rights  amendments  of  the  Constitution. 

To  establish  now  the  State  rights  doctrine  of  the 
supremacy  of  the  States,  and  an  oligarchy  of  race, 
is  deliberately  to  throw  away  an  essential  part  of 
the  fruits  of  the  Union  victory.  The  settlements 
of  the  war  in  favor  of  equal  rights  and  the  suprem- 
acy of  the  laws  of  the  nation  are  just  and  wise,  and 
necessary.  Let  them  not  be  surrendered.  Let 
them  be  faithfully  accepted  and  firmly  enforced. 
Lc^  them  stand,  and,  with  the  advancing  tide  of 
business  prosperity,  we  may  confidently  hope,  by 
the  blessing  of  Divine  Providence,  that  we  shall 
soon  enter  upon  an  era  of  harmony  and  progress 
such  as  has  been  rarely  enjoyed  by  any  people. 


RUTHERFORD    B.    HAYES.  371 


[An  Address  at  the  Soldiers'  State  Reunion.] 

COLUMBUS,  OHIO,  August  11,  1880. 

The  citizens  of  Ohio  who  where  soldiers 

in  the  Union  Army,  and  who  have  assembled  here 
in  such  large  numbers,  have  many  reasons  for  mu- 
tual congratulations  as  they  exchange  greetings  and 
renew  old  friendships  at  this  State  reunion.  We 
rejoice  that  we  had  the  glorious  privilege  of  enlist- 
ing and  serving  on  the  right  side  in  the  great 
conflict  for  the  Union  and  for  equal  rights.  The 
time  that  has  passed  since  the  contest  ended  is  not 
so  great  but  that  we  can  without  effort  recall  fresh- 
ly and  vividly  the  events  and  scenes  and  feelings 
and  associations  of  that  most  interesting  period 
of  our  lives.  We  rejoice,  also,  that  we  have  been 
permitted  to  live  long  enough  to  see  and  to  enjoy 
the  results  of  the  victory  we  gained,  and  to  meas- 
ure the  vast  benefits  which  it  conferred  on  our 
country  and  on  the  world.  I  shall  not  attempt  to 
make  a  catalogue  of  those  benefits,  or  to  estimate 
their  value.  A  single  fact,  to  which  I  call  your 
attention,  will  sufficiently  illustrate,  for  my  present 
purpose,  the  immeasurable  blessing  conferred  upon 
the  United  States  by  the  success  of  the  Union  arms. 
The  statistics  of  emigration,  showing  the  move- 
ments of  population  which  are  going  on  in  the 
world,  aiford  a  very  good  test  of  the  comparative 
advantages  and  prosperity  of  the  various  civilized 


372  CHIPS  FROM   THE   WHITE   HOUSE. 

nations.  People  leave  their  own  country  and  seek 
new  homes  in  foreign  lands  to  better  their  condi- 
tion. Immigration  into  a  country,  therefore,  is 
an  evidence  of  that  country's  prosperity.  It  is 
also  a  most  efficient  cause  of  the  progress  of 
the  country  which  receives  it.  During  our  civil 
war,  and  during  the  disturbed  and  troubled  years 
which  immediately  preceded  and  followed  it,  im- 
migration fell  off  and  became  of  comparatively 
small  importance.  But  now,  our  country's  pros- 
perity, the  stability  of  our  government,  and  the 
permanent  prevalence  of  peace  at  home  and  with 
foreign  nations,  blessings  which  could  not  have  been 
enjoyed  by  this  country  if  the  Union  arms  had 
failed,  have  given  to  the  world  a  confidence  in  the 
future  welfare  and  greatness  of  the  United  States 
which  is  pouring  upon  our  shores  such  streams  of 
immigration  as  were  never  known  before.  This  is 
a  fact  of  the  most  pregnant  significance  in  our  pre- 
sent condition.  If  we  take  a  survey  of  the  globe, 
we  shall  find  everywhere,  among  civilized  nations 
especially,  many  people  who  are  eagerly  looking 
forward  to  the  time  when  they  can  emigrate  to  some 
more  favored  land.  Only  one  of  the  great  nations 
is  in  no  danger  of  losing  its  capital  and  labor  and 
skill  by  emigration.  We  find  only  one  which  by 
immigration  is  gaining  rapidly  in  numbers,  wealth 
and  power.  All  are  losing  by  this  cause  except 
the  United  States.  The  United  States  alone  is 


RUTHERFOED    B.    HAYES.  373 

gaining.  Other  nations  see  their  people  going, 
going.  "We  see,  from  every  quarter,  the  people 
of  other  countries  coming,  coming,  coming.  There 
is  one  flag,  and  in  all  the  world  only  one,  whose 
protection  good  men  and  women  born  under  it  will 
never  willingly  leave.  There  is  one  flag,  and  only 
one  in  the  world,  whose  protecting  folds  good  men 
and  women  born  under  every  other  flag  that  floats 
under  the  whole  heavens  are  eagerly  and  gladly 
seeking.  That  flag,  so  loved  at  home,  so  longed 
for  by  millions  abroad,  is  the  old  flag  under  which 
we  marched,  to  save,  what  in  our  soldier  days  we 
were  fond  of  calling,  "  God's  country  !  "  It  is  easi- 
ly seen  what  it  is  that  chiefly  attracts  this  immigra- 
tion. It  goes  where  good  land  is  cheap ;  where 
labor  and  capital  find  profitable  employment ;  where 
peace  and  social  order  prevail ;  and  where  civil  and 
religious  liberty  are  secure.  If  we  draw  nearer  to 
the  subject,  and  ask  where  in  our  own  country  does 
this  immigration  mainly  go,  the  recent  census,  whose 
results  we  are  now  getting,  gives  us  the  answer. 
That  census  shows  us  parts  of  our  own  country, 
where  land  is  cheap  and  where  capital  and  labor  are 
needed,  that  are  not  rapidly  increasing  in  prosperi- 
ty. In  these  States  it  will  be  found  that  two  things 
are  wanting  —  the  means  for  popular  education  are 
not  sufficiently  provided,  and  the  good  order  of 
society  is  disturbed  by  a  practical  popular  refusal 
to  accept  the  results  of  the  war  for  the  union. 


374  CHIPS   FHOM   THE   WHITE   HOUSE. 

These  two  defects,  wherever  they  prevail  in  our 
American  society,  are  hostile  to  the  increase  of  pop- 
ulation and  to  prosperity.  They  arc  found  gener- 
ally to  exist  together.  Where  popular  education 
prevails,  the  equal  rights  "amendments  to  the  Con- 
stitution of  the  United  States,  embodying  the  re- 
sults of  the  war,  arc  inviolable."  It  must,  perhaps, 
be  conceded  that  there  was  one  great  error  in  the 
measures  by  which  it  was  sought  to  secure  the  re- 
sults ,  to  harvest  the  fruits  of  our  Union  victory.  The 
system  of  slavery  in  the  South  of  necessity  kept  in 
ignorance  four  millions  of  slaves.  It  also  loft  un- 
provided with  education  a  large  number  of  non- 
slave-holding  white  people.  With  the  end  of  the 
war  the  slaves  inevitably  became  citizens.  The 
uneducated  whites  remained  as  they  had  been,  also 
citizens.  Thus  the  grave  duties  and  responsibili- 
ties of  citizenship  were  devolved  largely,  in  the 
States  lately  in  rebellion,  upon  uneducated  peo- 
ple, white  and  colored.  And  with  what  result? 
Liberty  and  the  exercise  of  the  rights  of  citizenship 
are  excellent  educators.  In  many  respects  we  are 
glad  to  believe  that  encouraging  progress  has  been 
made  at  the  South.  The  labor  system  has  been 
reorganized,  material  prosperity  is  increasing,  race 
prejudices  and  antagonisms  have  diminished,  the 
passions  and  animosities  of  the  war  are  subsiding, 
and  the  ancient  harmony  and  concord  and  patriotic 
national  sentiments  are  returning.  But,  after  all, 


RUTHERFORD    B.    HAYES.  375 

we  cannot  fail  to  observe  that  immigration,  which  so 
infallibly  and  instinctively  finds  out  the  true  con- 
dition of  all  countries,  does  not  largely  go  into  the 
late  slaveholding  region  of  the  United  States.  A 
great  deal  of  cheap  and  productive  land  can  there  be 
found  where  population  is  not  rapidly  increasing. 
When  our  Revolutionary  fathers  adopted  the  ordi- 
nance of  1787  for  the  government  of  the  north- 
west territory,  out  of  which  Ohio  and  four  other 
great  States  have  been  carved,  they  were  not  con- 
tent with  merely  putting  into  that  organic  law  a 
firm  prohibition  against  slavery,  and  providing 
effectual  guarantees  of  civil  and  religious  liberty, 
but  they  established,  as  the  corner-stone  of  the 
free  institutions  they  wished  to  build,  this  article  : 
"Religion,  morality,  and  knowledge  being  necessary 
to  good  government  and  the  happiness  of  mankind, 
schools  and  the  means  of  education  shall  forever 
be  encouraged."  Unfortunately  for  the  complete 
success  of  reconstruction  in  the  South,  this  stone 
was  rejected  by  its  builders.  Slavery  has  been 
destroyed  by  the  war :  but  its  evils  live  after  it,  and 
deprive  many  parts  of  the  South  of  that  intelligent 
self-government  without  which,  in  America  at  least, 
great  and  permanent  prosperity  is  impossible.  To 
perpetuate  the  Union  and  to  abolish  slavery  were 
the  work  of  the  war.  To  educate  the  uneducated 
is  the  appropriate  work  of  peace.  As  long  as  any 
considerable  numbers  of  our  countrymen  are  un- 


376  CHIPS   FROM   THE   WHITE   HOUSE. 

educated,  the  citizenship  of  every  American  in 
every  State  is  impaired  in  value,  and  is  constantly 
imperilled.  It  is  plain  that  at  the  end  of  the  war 
the  tremendous  change  in  the  labor  and  social  svs- 

O  ^ 

terns  of  the  Southern  States,  and  the  ravages  and 
impoverishment  of  the  conflict,  added  to  the  bur- 
den of  their  debts,  and  the  loss  of  their  whole  cir- 
culating medium,  which  died  in  their  hands,  left 
the  people  of  those  States  in  no  condition  to  pro- 
vide for  universal  popular  education.  In  a  recent 
memorial  to  Congress  on  this  subject,  in  behalf  of 
the  trustees  of  the  Peabody  educational  fund,  lion. 
A.  H.  II.  Stuart  of  Virginia  shows  that  "two  mil- 
lions of  children  in  the  Southern  States  are  with- 
out the  means  of  instruction " ;  and  adds,  with 
great  force,  "Where  millions  of  citizens  are  grow- 
ing up  in  the  grossest  ignorance,  it  is  obvious  that 
neither  individual  charity  nor  the  resources  of  im- 
poverished States  will  be  sufficient  to  meet  the 
emergency.  Nothing  short  of  the  wealth  and  power 
of  the  Federal  Government  will  suffice  to  over- 
come the  evil."  The  principle  applied  by  general 
consent  to  works  of  public  improvement  is  in  point. 
That  principle  is,  that  whenever  a  public  improve- 
ment is  of  national  importance,  and  local  and  pri- 
vate enterprise  are  inadequate  to  its  prosecution, 
the  General  Government  should  undertake  it.  On 
this  principle  I  would  deal  with  the'questioa  of  ed- 
ucation by  the  aid  of  the  National  Government* 


EUTHEEFORD    B.    HAYES.  377 

Wherever  in  the  United  States  the  local  systems 
of  popular  education  are  inadequate,  they  should 
be  supplemented  by  the  General  Government,  by 
devoting  to  the  purpose,  by  suitable  legislation  and 
with  proper  safeguards,  the  public  lands,  or,  if 
necessary,  appropriations  from  the  treasury  of  the 
United  States.  The  soldier  of  the  Union  has  done 
his  work,  and  has  done  it  well.  The  work  of  the 
schoolmaster  is  now  in  order.  Wherever  his  work 
shall  be  well  done,  in  all  our  borders,  it  will  be 
found  that  there,  also,  the  principles  of  the  Dec- 
laration of  Independence  will  be  cherished,  the 
sentiment  of  nationality  will  prevail,  the  equal- 
rights  amendments  will  be  cheerfully  obeyed,  and 
there  will  be  "  the  home  of  freedom  and  the  refuge 
of  the  oppressed  of  every  race  and  of  every  clime." 

[From  an  Address  at  the  Reunion  of  Ohio  Soldiers  and 
Sailors,  at  Canton,  Ohio,  September,  1880.] 

At  the  Soldiers'  State  reunion  in  Columbus,  last 
month,  I  made  some  remarks  on  the  duty  of  the 
general  government  to  complete  the  work  of  recon- 
struction by  affording  aid,  wherever  it  is  needed, 
for  the  education  of  the  illiterate  white  and  colored 
people  in  the  late  slaveholding  States.  I  am  firmly 
convinced  that  the  subject  of  popular  education 
deserves  the  earnest  attention  of  the  people  of  the 
whole  country,  with  a  view  to  wise  and  compre- 
hensive action  by  the  government  of  the  United 


878  CHIPS   FROM   THE   WHITE   HOUSE. 

States.  The  means  at  the  command  of  tho  local 
and  State  authorities  are,  in  many  cases,  wholly 
inadequate  to  deal  with  the  question.  The  magni- 
tude of  the  evil  to  be  eradicated  is  not,  I  appre- 
hend, generally  and  fully  understood.  Consider 
these  facts  : 

1.  In  the  late  slaveholding  States,  under  the 
system  of  slavery,  education  was  denied  to  the 
colored  people,  and  the  education  of  the  non- 
slaveholcling  white  people  was  greatly  neglected. 
By  reason  of  this  state  of  things,  in  1870  more 
than  four  millions  of  people  in  the  South  of  school 
age  and  over  that  age  were  unable  to  read  and 
write,  and  more  than  three-quarters  of  a  million 
of  voters  are  too  illiterate  to  prepare  or  even  to 
read  their  own  ballots.  This  evil  is  not  rapidly 
diminishing.  By  tho  latest  available  statistics  it 
appears  that  in  1878  the  total  school  population, 
white  and  colored,  in  the  late  slaveholding  States 
was  5,187,584,  and  that  only  2,710,096  were 
during  that  year  enrolled  in  any  school'.  This 
leaves  2,477,488  —  almost  two  and  a  half  millions 
—  of  the  young  who  are  growing  up  without  the 
means  of  education.  Citizenship  and  the  right  to 
vote  were  conferred  upon  the  colored  people  by 
the  government  and  people  of  the  United  States. 
It  is,  therefore,  the  sacred  duty,  as  it  is  the  highest 
interest,  of  the  United  States  to  see  that  these  new 
citizens  and  voters  are  fitted  by  education  for  the 


RUTIIEEFOHD    B.    HAYES.  379 

grave  responsibility  that  has  been  cast  upon  them. 
Dr.  Ruffner,  school  superintendent  of  Virginia,  in 
an  argument  that  the  general  government  should 
aid  the  public  schools  of  the  South,  says :  "  I 
know  not  what  is  true  of  Northern  or  Western 
States,  but  I  can  say  for  my  State,  and  for  most 
of  the  Southern  States,  we  are  not  able  to  educate 
our  people  in  any  tolerable  sense.  We  are  too 
poor  to  do  it.  A  few  years  ago  I  showed  this 
conclusively  by  statistics.  .  .  .  There  has  not  been 
much  increase  in  financial  ability  in  these  States 
since  that  time ;  no  increase  on  an  average  of  my 
own  State,  so  far  as  I  can  judge,  and  every  well- 
informed  man  knows  that,  whatever  be  the  wants 
of  a  State,  her  power  of  taxation  has  a  limit." 

2.  In  the  Territories  of  the  United  States  it  is 
estimated  that  there  are  over  two  hundred  thousand 
Indians,  almost  all  of  whom  are  uncivilized.  They 
have  heretofore  been  hunters  and  warriors.  But  now 
no  one  who  observes  the  rapid  progress  of  railroads 
and  settlements  in  the  West  can  fail  to  see  that 
the  game  and  fish,  on  which  the  Indians  have  hith- 
erto subsisted,  are  about  to  disappear.  The  solu- 
tion of  the  Indian  question  will  speedily  be  either 
the  extinction  of  the  Indians,  or  their  absorption 
into  American  citizenship,  by  means  of  the  civil- 
izing influences  of  education.  With  the  disappear- 
ance of  game,  there  can  no  longer  remain  Indian 
hunters  and  warriors.  The  days  of  Indian  wars 


380  CHIPS    FROM   THE   WHITE    HOUSE. 

are  drawing  to  a  close.  There  will  soon  be  no 
room  for  question  as  to  the  department  to  which 
the  Indian  will  belong.  In  a  few  years  all  must 
agree  that  he  should  belong,  like  every  other  citi- 
zen, only  to  himself.  The  time  is  not  distant 
when  he  should  be  chiefly  cared  for  by  the  civil- 
izing department  of  the  government  —  the  Bureau 
of  Education. 

3.  The  people  of  the  Territory  of  New  Mexico 
have  never  been  provided  with  the  means  of  edu- 
cation.    The  number  of  people  in  that  Territory 
in  1870,  ten  years  old  and  upward,  who  could  not 
read  and  write,  was  fifty-two  thousand  two  hun- 
dred and  twenty.     This  is  largely  more  than  half 
of  the  population.     The  school  population  is  now 
over  thirty  thousand,  of  whom  only  about  one-sixth 
are  enrolled  in  schools.  It  will  not  be  questioned  that 
the  power  of  the  general  government  to  "  make  all 
needful  rules  and  regulations  respecting  the  Ter- 
ritory belonging  to  the  United  States,"  is  sufficient 
to  authorize  it  to  provide  for  the  education  of  the 
increasing  mass  of  illiterate  citizens  growing  up  in 
New  Mexico  and  in  the  other  Territories  of  the 
United  States. 

4.  The  number  of  immigrants  arriving  in  the 
United  States  is  greater  than  ever  before.     It  is 
not   improbable,    from   present    indications,    that 
from  this  source  alone  there  will  be  added  during 
the  current  decade  to  the  population  of  our  coun- 


RUTHERFORD    B.    HAYES.  381 

try  5,000,000  of  people.  On  one  day  last  spring 
there  arrived  in  New  York  4,907  immigrants,  — 
almost  five  thousand  in  a  single  day  at  that  one 
port.  During  the  quarter  ending  the  30th  of 
June  last,  the  number  of  immigrants  into  the 
United  States  averaged  80,000  a  month,  and  dur- 
ing the  four  months  ending  the  31st  of  July  last 
there  were  nearly  300,000. 

Happily  for  the  United  States,  several  of  the 
large  elements  of  this  immigration  contain  very 
few  people  who  are  wholly  uneducated.  The 
Germans  and  Scandinavians  have  for  the  most 
part  been  educated  at  public  schools  in  their  own 
country.  But  it  is  probable  that  from  one-fourth 
to  one-third  of  the  present  total  immigration  into 
our  country  is  from  foreign  nations  in  which  popu- 
lar education  is  greatly  neglected.  It  may  rea- 
sonably be  estimated  that  at  least  from  twenty  to 
twenty-five  per  cent,  of  the  immigrants  are  illiter- 
ate. In  the  current  decade  we  shall  probably  re- 
ceive from  abroad  more  than  a  million  of  people 
of  school  age  and  upward  who  are  unable  to  read 
and  write  any  language ;  and  of  these  about  a 
quarter  of  a  million  in  a  few  years  will  share  with 
us  equally,  man  for  man,  the  duties  and  responsi- 
bilities of  the  citizen  and  the  voter.  Jefferson, 
with  his  almost  marvellous  sagacity  and  foresight, 
declared,  nearly  a  hundred  years  ago,  that  free 
schools  were  an  essential  part  —  one  of  the  col- 


382  CHIPS  FROM  THE   WHITE  HOUSE. 

umns,  as  he  expressed  it  —  of  the  republican  edi- 
fice, and  that  "  without  instruction  free  to  all,  the 
sacred  flame  of  liberty  could  not  be  kept  burning 
in  the  hearts  of  Americans."  Madison  said,  almost 
sixty  years  ago,  "A  popular  government,  without 
popular  information,  or  the  means  of  acquiring  it, 
is  but  a  prologue  to  a  farce  or  a  tragedy,  or  per- 
haps to  both."  Already,  in  too  many  instances, 
elections  have  become  the  farce  which  Madison 
predicted ;  and  the  tremendous  tragedy  which  we 
saw  when  we  were  soldiers  of  the  Union,  and  in 
which  we  bore  a  part,  could  never  have  occurred, 
if  in  all  sections  of  our  country  there  had  been 
universal  suffrage  based  upon  universal  education. 
In  our  country,  as  everywhere  else,  it  will  be 
found  that,  in  the  long  run,  ignorant  voters  are 
powder  and  ball  for  the  demagogues.  The  failure 
to  support  free  schools  in  any  part  of  our  country 
tends  to  cheapen  and  degrade  the  right  of  suffrage, 
and  will  ultimately  destroy  its  value  in  every  other 
part  of  the  Republic.  The  unvarying  testimony 
of  history  is,  that  the  nations  which  win  the  most 
renowned  victories  in  peace  and  war  are  those 
which  provide  ample  means  for  popular  education. 
Without  free  schools  there  is  no  such  thing  as  af- 
fording to  "  every  man  an  unfettered  start  and  a 
fair  chance  in  the  race  of  life."  In  the  present 
condition  of  our 'country  universal  education  re- 
quires the  aid  of  the  general  government.  The 


RUTHERFORD    B.    HAYES.  383 

authority  to  grant  such  aid  is  established  by  a  line 
of  precedents  beginning  with  the  origin  of  the  Re- 
public, and  running  down  through  almost  every 
administration  to  the  present  time.  Let  this  aid 
be  granted  wherever  it  is  essential  to  the  enjoy- 
ment of  free  popular  instruction.  In  the  language 
of  Mr.  "Webster :  "  The  census  of  these  States 
shows  how  great  a  proportion  of  the  whole  popu- 
lation occupies  the  classes  between  infancy  and 
manhood.  These  are  the  wide  fields, "and  here  is 
the  deep  and  quick  soil,  for  the  seeds  of  knowledge 
and  virtue,  and  this  is  the  favored  season,  —  the 
very  springtime  for  sewing  them.  Let  them  be 
disseminated  without  stint ;  let  them  be  scattered 
with  a  bountiful  hand  broadcast.  Whatever  the 
government  can  fairly  do  toward  these  objects,  in 
my  opinion,  ought  to  be  done." 

[From  an  Address  at  the  Anniversary  of  the  Hampton  In- 
stitute, Virginia,  May  20,  1880.] 

The  President  said  that  he  should  be  glad  if  he 
could  speak  to  all  who  are  entitled  to  the  credit  of 
establishing  and  sustaining  the  Institute — the  feel- 
ing of  all  who  have  listened  to  the  exercises  of  the 
day ;  but  the  stream  of  congratulation  and  encouV- 
agement  for  the  Institute  flows  so  deep  and  strong 
that  it  is  hardly  necessary  to  add  anything  to  it.  He 
desired  only  to  thank  the  principal,  Gen.  Armstrong, 
who  has  done  so  much,  the  trustees,  the  teachers,  the 


384  CHIPS   FROM   THE   WHITE   HOUSE. 

pupils,  and  these  who  were  now  to  go  out,  and  to 
express  to  them  all  the  gratitude  and  the  satisfac- 
tion which  he  felt  in  what  had  been  done.  The 
question  you  are  dealing  with  is  the  oldest  and  one 
of  the  most  difficult,  and  indeed  one  of  the  most 
vital  —  how  to  deal  with  the  seemingly  repugnant 
elements  which  mako  up  our  population.  When  I 
remember  the  diversity  of  climate  and  soil  and 
natural  resources  which  characterize  our  country, 
it  seems  to  me  that  these  conditions  required,  if 
they  did  not  create,  the  diverse  elements  of  the 
population.  The  great  task  is,  how  to  fuse  a  peo- 
ple differing  so  widely  in  raceand  jnationality  into 
one  harmonious  whole  ?  —  and  this  is  the  problem 
which  Hampton  Institute  is  solving.  It  is  teaching 
us  to  deal  with  all  these  diverse  races  and  classes 
as  children  of  the  same  great  Father.  It  is  helping 
to  wipe  out  sectionalism  and  race  prejudice  —  and 
these  are  the  only  two  enemies  America  has  ever 
had  to  fear.  We  do  not  wish  to  repeal  or  change 
the  laws  of  nature ;  what  God  has  made  separate 
and  distinct,  we  do  not  mean  to  interfere  with. 
We  do  not  wish  to  abolish  the  distinctions  between 
the  races.  We  are  willing  that  they  should  remain 
distinct  and  separate  as  the  fingers  of  the  hand ; 
but  we  want  them,  for  effectiveness  in  every  good 
work,  and  for  the  national  defence,  to  be  united, 
to  become  one  as  the  hand.  This  is  the  problem, 
so  hard  and  difficult,  which  has  caused  so  much 


RUTHERFORD    B.    HATES.  385 

anxiety,  and  so  much  suffering  and  affliction,  which 
Hampton  is  solving.  The  question  is  settled,  and 
there  is  no  need  of  making  a  speech  about  it. 

[From  an  Address  to  the  Citizens  of  Detroit,  Michigan, 
September  18,  1880.] 

The  practice  of  creating  public  debts,  as  it  pre- 
vails in  this  country,  especially  in  municipal  gov- 
ernments, has  long  attracted  very  serious  attention. 
It  is  a  great  and  growing  evil.  States,  whose  good 
name  and  credit  have  been  hitherto  untarnished, 
are  threatened  with  repudiation.  Many  towns  and 
cities  have  reached  a  point  where  they  must  soon 
face  the  same  peril.  I  do  not  now  wish  to  discuss 
the  mischiefs  of  repudiation.  My  purpose  is  mere- 
ly to  make  a  few  suggestions  as  to  the  best  way  to 
avoid  repudiation.  But,  in  passing,  let  me  ob- 
serve :  Experience  in  this  country  has  shown  that  no 
State  or  community  can,  under  any  circumstances, 
gain  by  repudiation.  The  repudiators  themselves 
cannot  afford  it.  The  community  that  deliberately 
refuses  to  provide  for  its  honest  debts,  loses  its 
good  name  and  shuts  the  door  to  all  hope  of  fu- 
ture prosperity.  It  demoralizes  and  degrades  all 
classes  of  its  citizens.  Capital  and  labor  and  good 
people  will  not  go  to  such  communities,  but  will 
surely  leave  them.  If  I  thought  my  words  could 
influence  any  of  my  countrymen  who  are  so  unfor- 

25 


386  CHIPS   FROM   THE   WHITE    HOUSE. 

tunate  as  to  be  compelled  to  consider  this  question, 
I  would  "say,  let  no  good  citizen  be  induced,  by 
any  prospect  of  advantage  to  himself  or  to  his 
party,  to  take  a  single  step  toward  repudiation. 
Let  him  set  his  face  like  flint  against  the  first 
dawning  of  an  attempt  to  enter  upon  that  down- 
ward pathway.  It  has  been  well  said  that  the 
most  expensive  way  for  a  community  to  get  rid  of 
its  honest  debts  is  repudiation. 

[From  a  Message  to  Congress,  February,  1881.] 

The  Indians  should  be  prepared  for  citizenship 
by  giving  to  their  young  of  both  sexes  that  indus- 
trial and  general  education  which  is  requisite  to 
enable  them  to  be  self-supporting  and  capable  of 
self-protection  in  civilized  communities. 

Lands  should  be  allotted  to  the  Indians  in  sever- 
alty,  inalienable  for  a  certain  period. 

The  Indians  should  have  a  fair  compensation  for 
their  lands  not  required  for  individual  allotments, 
the  amount  to  be  invested,  with  suitable  safeguards, 
for  their  benefit. 

With  these  prerequisites  secured,  the  Indians 
should  be  made  citizens,  and  invested  with  the 
rights  and  charged  with  the  responsibilities  of  citi- 
zenship. 

Nothing  should  be  left  undone  to  show  to  the 
Indians  that  the  government  of  the  United  States 


EUTHEEFORD    B.    HATES.  387 

regards  their  rights  as  equally  sacred  with  those  of 
its  citizens. 

[With  reference  to  the  Poncas,  and  their  alleged  wrongs,  he 
added] : 

Whether  the  Executive,  or  Congress,  or  the  pub- 
lic is  chiefly  in  fault  is  not  now  a  question  of  prac- 
tical importance.  As  the  chief  Executive  at  the 
time  when  the  wrong  was  consummated,  I  am 
deeply  sensible  that  enough  of  the  responsibility 
for  that  wrong  justly  attaches  to  me  to  make  it  my 
personal  duty  and  earnest  desire  to  do  all  I  can  to 
give  these  Indian  people  that  measure  of  redress 
which  is  required  alike  by  justice  and  by  hu- 
manity. 


388  CHIPS   FROM   THE   WHITE   HOUSE. 


JAMES  A.  GARFIELD. 

BORN,  1831.  —  GRADUATED  AT  WILLIAMS  COLLEGE,  MASS,  1856. 

—  PROFESSOR  OF  ANCIENT  LANGUAGES  IN  HIRAM  INSTI- 
TUTE,   OHIO,    1856.  — PRESIDENT  OF   HIRAM  COLLEGE,  1857. 

—  ELECTED  TO  THE  STATE  SENATE.  OHIO,  1859.— ADMITTED 
TO  THE  BAR,  1860.  —  COLONEL  OF  AN  OHIO  REGIMENT,  1861. 
—BRIGADIER-GENERAL,  1862.  — MEMBER  OF  THE  FITZ^-JOHN 
PORTER  COURT-MARTIAL,  1862.  — CHIEF  OF   STAFF  UNDER 
GENERAL  ROSECRANS,  1863.  —  ELECTED  TO  CONGRESS,  1863. 

—  MEMBER  OF  THE  MILITARY  COMMITTEE.  —  RE-ELECTED 
TO   CONGRESS,  1865. —MEMBER   OF   COMMITTEE    OF   WAYS 
AND  MEANS.  — VISITED  EUROPE,  1867.  —  CHAIRMAN  OF  THE 
COMMITTEE  ON  THE  TARIFF,   1870.  —  ON  APPROPRIATIONS, 
1871-1875.— RE-ELECTED    TO    CONGRESS,   1878.— MEMBER    OF 
THE    ELECTORAL    COMMISSION,    1876.  —  ELECTED    TO    THE 
SENATE  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  FROM  OHIO,  1880.  -  PRESI- 
DENT, 1881. 

[Speech  on  the  Currency.  —  46th  Congress.] 

No  man  can  doubt  that  within  recent  years,  and 
notably  within  recent  months,  the  leading  thinkers 
of  the  civilized  world  have  become  alarmed  at  the 
attitude  of  the  two  precious  metals  in  relation  to 
each  other ;  and  many  leading  thinkers  are  becom- 
ing clearly  of  the  opinion  that,  by  some  wise,  judi- 
cious arrangement,  both  the  precious  metals  must 
be  kept  in  service  for  the  currency  of  the  world. 
And  this  opinion  has  been  very  rapidly  gaining 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  389 

ground  within  the  past  six  months  to  such  an  ex- 
tent, that  England,  which  for  more  than  half  a  cen- 
tury has  stoutly  adhered  to  the  single  gold  stand- 
ard, is  now  seriously  meditating  how  she  may 
harness  both  these  metals  to  the  monetary  car  of 
the  world.  And  yet  outside  of  this  capital,  I  do 
not  this  day  know  of  a  single  great  and  recog- 
nized advocate  of  bi-metallic  money  who  regards 
it  prudent  or  safe  for  any  nation  largely  to  increase 
the  coinage  standard  of  silver  at  the  present  time 
beyond  the  limits  fixed  by  existing  laws.  .  .  .  Yet 
we,  who  during  the  past  two  years  have  coined  far 
more  silver  dollars  than  we  ever  before  coined 
since  the  foundation  of  the  Government ;  ten  times 
as  many  as  we  coined  during  half  a  century  of  our 
national  life  ;  are  to-day  ignoring  and  defying  the 
enlightened  universal  opinion  of  bi-metallism,  and 
saying  that  the  United  States,  single-handed  and 
alone,  can  enter  the  field  and  settle  the  mighty 
issue.  We  are  justifying  the  old  proverb  that 
"fools  rush  in  where  angels  fear  to  tread."  It 
is  sheer  madness,  Mr.  Speaker.  I  once  saw  a 
dog  on  a  grea't  stack  of  hay  that  had  been  floated 
out  into  the  wild  overflowed  stream  of  a  river, 
with  its  stack-pen  and  foundation  still  holding  to- 
gether, but  ready  to  be  wrecked.  For  a  little 
while  the  animal  appeared  to  be  perfectly  happy. 
His  hay-stack  was  there,  and  the  pen  around  it, 
and  he  seemed  to  think  the  world  bright  and  his 


390  CHIPS    FEOM   THE    WHITE   HOUSE. 

happiness  secure,  while  the  sunshine  fell  softly  on 
his  head  and  hay.  But  by  and  by  he  began  to 
discover  that  the  house  and  the  barn,  and  their 
surroundings  were  not  all  there,  as  they  were 
when  he  went  to  sleep  the  night  before ;  and  he 
began  to  see  that  he  could  not  command  all  the 
prospect,  and  peacefully  dominate  the  scene  as  he 
had  done  before. 

So  with  this  House.  We  assume  to  manage  this 
mighty  question  which  has  been  launched  on  the 
wild  current  that  sweeps  over  the  whole  world, 
and  we  bark  from  our  legislative  hay-stacks  as 
though  we  commanded  the  whole  world.  In  the 
name  of  common  sense  and  sanity,  let  us  take 
some  account  of  the  flood ;  let  us  understand  that 
a  deluge  means  something,  and  try  if  we  can  to 
get  our  bearings  before  we  undertake  to  settle  the 
affairs  of  all  mankind  by  a  vote  of  this  House. 
To-day  we  are  coining  one-third  of  all  the  silver 
that  is  being  coined  in  the  round  world.  China  is 
coining  another  third ;  and  all  other  nations  are 
using  the  remaining  one-third  for  subsidiary  coin. 
And  if  we  want  to  take  rank  with  China,  and  part 
company  with  all  of  the  civilized  nations  of  the 
"Western  world,  let  us  pass  this  bill,  and  then  ''bay 
the  moon  "  as  we  float  down  the  whirling  channel 
to  take  our  place  among  the  silver  mono-metallists 
of  Asia. 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  391 


[Letter  to  B.  A.  Kimball.] 

COLUMBUS,  OHIO,  February  16,  1861. 

Mr.  Lincoln  has  come  and  gone.  The  rush  of 
people  to  see  him  at  every  point  on  the  route  is 
astonishing.  The  reception  here  was  plain  and 
republican,  but  very  impressive.  He  has  been 
raising  a  respectable  pair  of  dark-brown  whiskers, 
which  decidedly  improve  his  looks,  but  no  ap- 
pendage can  ever  render  him  remarkable  for 
beauty.  On  the  whole,  I  am  greatly  pleased  with 
him.  Ho  clearly  shows  his  want  of  culture,  and 
the  marks  of  western  life ;  but  there  is  no  touch 
of  affectation  in  him,  and  he  has  a  peculiar  power 
of  impressing  you  that  he  is  frank,  direct,  and 
thoroughly  honest.  His  remarkable  good  sense, 
simple  and  condensed  style  of  expression,  and 
evident  marks  of  indomitable  will,  give  me  great 
hopes  for  the  country.  And,  after  the  long,  dreary 
period  of  Buchanan's  weakness  and  cowardly  im- 
becility, the  people  will  hail  a  strong  and  vigorous 
leader. 

[To  the  Same.] 

A  monarchy  is  more  easily  overthrown  than  a 
rebublic,  because  its  sovereignty  is  concentrated, 
and  a  single  blow,  if  it  be  powerful  enough,  will 
crush  it. 


392          cinrs  FKOM  THE  WHITE  HOUSE. 

As  an  abstract  theory,  the  doctrine  of  Free 
Trade  seems  to  be  universally  true,  but  as  a  ques- 
tion of  practicability,  under  a  government  like 
ours,  the  protective  system  seems  to  be  indis- 
pensable. 

[Speech  on  a  Draft  Bill,  June  21,  1864.] 

It  has  never  been  my  policy  to  conceal  a  truth 
merely  because  it  is  unpleasant.  It  may  be  well 
to  smile  in  the  face  of  danger,  but  it  is  neither 
well  nor  wise  to  let  danger  approach  unchallenged 
and  unannounced.  A  brave  nation,  like  a  brave 
man,  desires  to  see  and  measure  the  perils  which 
threaten  it.  It  is  the  right  of  the  American  people 
to  know  the  necessities  of  the  Republic  when  they 
are  called  upon  to  make  sacrifices  for  it.  It  is  this 
lack  of  confidence  in  ourselves  and  the  people, 
this  timid  waiting  for  events  to  control  us  when 
they  should  obey  us,  that  makes  men  oscillate 
between  hope  and  fear ;  now  in  the  sunshine  of  the 
hill-tops,  and  now  in  the  gloom  and  shadows  of 
the  valley.  To  such  men  the  bulletin  which 
heralds  success  in  the  army  gives  exultation  and 
high  hope ;  the  evening  dispatch,  announcing 
some  slight  disaster  to  our  advancing  columns, 
brings  gloom  and  depression.  Hope  rises  and  falls 
by  the  accidents  of  war,  as  the  mercury  of  the  ther- 
mometer changes  by  the  accidents  of  heat  and 
cold.  Let  us  rather  take  for  our  symbol  the 


JAMES   A.    GARFIELD.  393 

sailor's  barometer,  which  faithfully  forewarns  him 
of  the  tempest,  and  gives  him  unerring  promise  of 
serene  skies  and  peaceful  seas. 

[Speech  in  New  York  City,  1865,  on  the  Assassination  of 
President  Lincoln.] 

By  this  last  act  of  madness  it  seems  as  though 
the  Rebellion  had  determined  that  the  President 
of  the  soldiers  should  go  with  the  soldiers  who 
have  laid  down  their  lives  on  the  battle-field. 
They  slew  the  noblest  and  gentlest  heart  that  ever 
put  down  a  rebellion  upon  this  earth.  In  taking 
that  life  they  have  left "  the  iron  "  hand  of  the  people 
to  fall  upon  them.  Love  is  on  the  front  of  the 
throne  of  God,  but  justice  and  judgment,  with 
inexorable  dread,  follow  behind;  and  where  law 
is  slighted  and  mercy  despised,  when  they  have 
rejected  those  who  would  be  their  best  friends, 
then  comes  justice  with  her  hoodwinked  eye,  and 
with  the  sword  and  scales.  From  every  gaping 
wound  of  your  dead  chief,  let  the  voice  go  up  for 
the  people  to  see  to  it  that  our  house  is  swept  and 
garnished.  I  hasten  to  say  one  thing  more.  For 
mere  vengeance  I  would  do  nothing.  This  nation 
is  too  great  to  look  for  mere  revenge.  But  for 
security  of  the  future  I  would  do  everything. 


394  CHIPS   FROM    THE    WHITE    HOUSE. 


[Speech  in  Congress  on  the  Constitutional  Amendment  to 
abolish  slavery,  January  13,  1865.] 

On  the  21st  day  of  June,  1788,  our  national 
sovereignty  was  lodged,  by  the  peoplo,  in  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States,  where  it  still 
resides,  and  for  its  preservation  our  armies  are 
to-day  in  the  field.  In  all  these  stages  of  devel- 
opment, from  colonial  dependence  to  full-orbed 
nationality,  the  people,  not  the  States,  have  been 
omnipotent.  They  have  abolished,  established, 
altered,  and  amended,  as  suited  their  sovereign 
pleasure.  They  made  the  Constitution.  That 
great  charter  tells  its  own  story  best : 

"We,  the  people  of  the  United  States,  in  order  to  form  a 
more  perfect  Union,  establish  justice,  insure  domestic  tran- 
quillity, provide  for  the  common  defence,  promote  the  gen- 
eral welfare,  and  secure  the  blessings  of  liberty  to  ourselves 
and  our  posterity,  do  ordain  and  establish  this  Constitution 
for  the  United  States  of  America." 

That  Constitution,  with  its  amendments,  is  the 
latest  and  the  greatest  utterance  of  American 
sovereignty.  The  hour  is  now  at  hand  when  that 
majestic  sovereign,  for  the  benignant  purpose  of 
securing  still  farther  the  '  blessings  of  liberty,'  is 
about  to  put  forth  another  oracle  ;  is  about  to  de- 
clare that  universal  freedom  shall  be  the  supreme 
law  of  the  land.  Show  me  the  power  that  is 


JAMES    A.    GAEFIELD.  395 

authorized  to  forbid  it.  ...  They  made  the  Con- 
stitution what  it  is.  They  could  have  made  it 
otherwise  then ;  they  can  make  it  otherwise  now. 

In  the  very  crisis  of  our  fate,  God  brought  us 
face  to  face  with  the  alarming  truth*  that  wejmust 
lose  our  own  freedom,  or  grant  it  to  the  slave. 
In  the  extremity  of  our  distress,  we  called  upon 
the  black  man  to  help  us  save  the  Republic,  and 
amidst  the  very  thunder  of  battle  we  made  a  cov- 
enant with  him,  sealed  both  with  his  blood  and 
ours,  and  witnessed  by  Jehovah,  that  when  the 
nation  was  redeemed,  he  should  be  free,  and  share 
with  us  the  glories  and  blessings  of  freedom.  In 
the  solemn  words  of  the  great  proclamation  of 
emancipation,  we  not  only  declared  the  slaves  for- 
ever free,  but  we  pledged  the  faith  of  the  nation 
rto  maintain  their  freedom" — mark  the  words,  "to 
maintain  their  freedom  "  The  Omniscient  witness 
will  appear  in  judgment  against  us  if  we  do  not 
fulfil  that  covenant.  Have  we  done  it?  Have 
we  given  freedom  to  the  black  man?  What  is 

O 

freedom  ?  Is  it  a  mere  negation  ?  the  bare  privi- 
lege of  not  being  chained,  bought,  and  sold, 
branded,  and  scourged?  If  this  be  all,  then  free- 
dom is  a  bitter  mockery,  a  cruel  delusion,  and  it 
may  well  be  questioned  whether  slavery  were  not 
better. 

But  liberty  is  no  negation.     It  is  a  substantive, 


396  CHIPS   FEOM   THE   WHITE   HOUSE. 

tangible  reality.  It  is  the  realization  of  those  im- 
perishable truths  of  the  Declaration,  "that  all  men 
are  created  equal,"  that  the  sanction  of  all  just 
government  is  "  the  consent  of  the  governed." 
Can  these  truths  be  realized  until  each  man  has 
a  right  to  be  heard  on  all  matters  relating  to 
himself? 

Mr.  Speaker,  we  did  more  than  merely  to 
break  off  the  chains  of  the  slaves.  The  abolition 
of  slavery  added  four  million  citizens  to  the  Re- 
public. By  the  decision  of  the  Supreme  Court, 
by  the  decision  of  the  attorney-general,  l>y  the 
decision  of  all  the  departments  of  our  govern- 
ment, those  men  made  free  are,  by  the  act  of  free- 
dom, made  citizens. 

If  they  are  to  be  disfranchised,  if  they  are  to 
have  no  voice  in  determining  the  conditions  under 
which  they  are  to  live  and  labor,  what  hope  have 
they  for  the  future  ?  It  will  rest  with  their  late 
masters,  whose  treason  they  aided  to  thwart,  to 
determine  whether  negroes  shall  be  permitted  to 
hold  property,  to  enjoy  the  benefits  of  education, 
to  enforce  contracts,  to  have  access  to  the  courts 
of  justice  —  in  short,  to  enjoy  any  of  those  rights 
which  give  vitality  and  value  to  freedom.  Who  can 
fail  to  foresee  the  ruin  and  misery  that  await  this 
race  to  whom  the  vision  of  freedom  has  been  pre- 
sented only  to  be  withdrawn,  leaving  them  with- 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  397 

out  even  the  aid  which  the  master's  selfish,  com- 
mercial interest  in  their  life  and  service  formerly 
afforded  them?  Will  these  negroes,  remembering 
the  battle-fields  on  which  nearly  two  hundred 
thousand  of  their  number  have  so  bravely  fought, 
and  many  thousands  have  heroically  died,  submit 
to  oppression  as  tamely  and  peaceably  as  in  the 
days  of  slavery?  Under  such  conditions  there 
could  be  no  peace,  no  security,  no  prosperity. 
The  spirit  of  slavery  is  still  among  us  ;  it  must  be 
utterly  destroyed  before  we  shall  be  safe. 

Mr.  Speaker,  I  know  of  nothing  more  dan- 
gerous to  a  Republic  than  to  put  into  its  very 
midst  four  million  people,  stripped  of  every  attri- 
bute of  citizenship,  robbed  of  the  right  of  repre- 
sentation, but  bound  to  pay  taxes  to  the  govern- 
ment. If  they  can  endure  it,  we  can  not.  The 
murderer  is  to  be  pitied  more  than  the  murdered 
man ;  the  robber  more  than  the  robbed.  And  we 
who  defraud  four  million  citizens  of  their  rights 
are  injuring  ourselves  vastly  more  than  we  are 
injuring  the  black  man  whom  we  rob. 

Throughout  the  whole  web  of  national  existence 
we  trace  the  golden  thread  of  human  progress  to- 
ward a  higher  and  better  estate. 


e 


The  life  and  light  of  a  nation  are  inseparable. 


398  CHIPS   FROM  THE   WHITE  HOUSE. 

We  confront  the  dangers  of  suffrage  by  the 
blessings  of  universal  education. 

We  should  do  nothing  inconsistent  with  the 
spirit  and  genius  of  our  institutions.  We  should 
do  nothing  for  revenge,  but  everything  for  secu- 
rity :  nothing  for  the  past ;  everything  for  the 
present  and  future. 

There  are  two  classes  offerees  whose  action  and 
reaction  determine  the  condition  of  a  nation  —  the 
forces  of  Repression  and  Expression.  The  one 
acts  from  without ;  limits,  curbs,  restrains.  The 
other  acts  from  within  ;  expands,  enlarges,  propels. 
Constitutional  forms,  statutory  limitations,  con- 
servative customs,  belong  to  the  first.  The  free 
play  of  individual  life,  opinion,  and  action,  belong- 
to  the  second.  If  these  forces  be  happily  balanced, 
if  there  be  a  wise  conservation  and  correlation  of 
both,  a  nation  may  enjoy  the  double  blessing  of 
progress  and  permanence. 

It  matters  little  what  may  be  the  forms  of  Na- 
tional institutions,  if  the  life,  freedom,  and  growth 
of  society  are  secured. 

There  is  no  horizontal  stratification  of  society  in 
this  country  like  the  rocks  in  the  earth,  that  hold 
one  class  down  below  forevermore,  and  let  another 
come  to  the  surface  to  stay  there  forever.  Our 
stratification  is  like  the  ocean,  where  every  indi- 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  899 

vidual  drop  is  free  to  move,  and  where  from  the 
sternest  depths  of  the  mighty  deep  any  drop  may 
come  up  to  glitter  on  the  highest  wave  that  rolls. 

The  Union  and  the  Congress  must  share  the 
same  fate.  They  must  rise  or  fall  together. 

Real  political  issues  cannot  be  manufactured  by 
the  leaders  of  political  parties,  and  real  ones  can- 
not be  evaded  by  political  parties.  The  real  polit- 
ical issues  of  the  day  declare  themselves  and  come 
out  of  the  depth  of  that  deep  wilich  we  call  public 
opinion.  The  nation  has  a  life  of  its  own  as  dis- 
tinctly defined  as  the  life  of  an  individual.  The 
signs  of  its  growth  and  the  periods  of  its  develop- 
ment make  issues  declare  themselves ;  and  the 
man  or  the  political  party  that  does  not  discover 
this,  has  not  learned  the  character  of  the  nation's 

[Reply  to  Mr.  Lamar,  in  a  Committee  of  the  Whole.] 

Mr.  Chairman,  great  ideas  travel  slowly,  and 
for  a  time  noiselessly,  as  the  gods,  whose  feet 
were  shod  writh  wool.  Our  war  of  independence 
was  a  war  of  ideas,  of  ideas  evolved  out  of  two 
hundred  years  of  slow  and  silent  growth.  When, 
one  hundred  years  ago,  our  fathers  announced  as 
self-evident  truths  the  declaration  that  all  men  are 
created  equal,  and  the  only  just  power  of  govern- 
ments is  derived  from  the  consent  of  the  governed, 


400  CHIPS   FEOM   THE    WHITE   HOUSE. 

they  uttered  a  doctrine  that  no  nation  had  ever 
adopted,  that  not  one  kingdom  on  the  earth  then 
believed.  Yet  to  our  fathers  it  was  so  plain  that 
they  would  not  debate  it.  They  announced  it  as 
a  truth  "self-evident." 

Whence  came  the  immortal  truths  of  the  Dec- 
laration ?  To  me  this  was  for  years  the  riddle  of 
our  history.  I  have  searched  long  and  patiently 
through  the  books  of  the  doctrinaires  to  find  the 
germs  from  which  the  Declaration  of  Independence 
sprang.  I  find  hints  in  Locke,  in  Ilobbes,  in  Rous- 
seau, and  Fdnelon ;  but  they  were  only  the  hints 
of  dreamers  and  philosophers.  The  great  doc- 
trines of  the  Declaration  germinated  in  the  hearts 
of  our  fathers,  and  were  developed  under  the  new 
influences  of  this  wilderness  world,  by  the  same 
subtile  mystery  which  brings  forth  the  rose  from 
the  germ  of  the  rose-tree.  Unconsciously  to  them- 
selves, the  great  truths  were  growing  under  the 
new  conditions,  until,  like  the  century-plant,  they 
blossomed  into  the  matchless  beauty  of  the  Decla- 
ration of  Independence,  whose  fruitage,  increased 
and  increasing,  we  enjoy  to-day. 

It  will  not  do,  Mr.  Chairman,  to  speak  of  the 
gigantic  revolution  through  which  we  have  lately 
passed  as  a  thing  to  be  adjusted  and  settled  by  a 
change  of  administration.  It  was  cyclical,  epochal, 
century-wide,  and  to  be  studied  in  its  broad  and 


JAMES    A.    GAEFIELD.  401 

grand  perspective  —  a  revolution  of  even  wider 
scope,  so  far  as  time  is  concerned,  than  the  Revo- 
lution of  1776.  We  have  been  dealing  with  ele- 
ments and  forces  which  have  been  at  work  on  this 
continent  more  than  two  hundred  and  fifty  years. 
I  trust  I  shall  be  excused  if  I  take  a  few  moments 
to  trace  some  of  the  leading  phases  of  the  great 
struggle.  And  in  doing  so,  I  beg  gentlemen  to 
see  that  the  subject  itself  lifts  us  into  a  region 
where  the  individual  sinks  out  of  sight  and  is  ab- 
sorbed in  the  mighty  current  of  great  events.  It 
is  not  the  occasion  to  award  praise  or  pronounce 
condemnation.  In  such  a  revolution  men  are  like 
insects  that  fret  and  toss  in  the  storm,  but  are 
swept  onward  by  the  resistless  movements  of  ele- 
ments beyond  their  control.  I  speak  of  this  revo- 
lution not  to  praise  the  men  who  aided  it,  or  to 
censure  the  men  who  resisted  it,  but  as  a  force  to 
be  studied,  as  a  mandate  to  be  obeyed. 

In  the  year  1620  there  were  planted  upon  this 
continent  two  ideas  irreconcilably  hostile  to  each 
other.  Ideas  are  the  great  warriors  of  the  world  ;  \ 
and  a  war  that  has  no  ideas  behind  it  is  simply 
brutality.  The  two  ideas  were  landed,  one  at 
Plymouth  Rock,  from  the  Mayflower,  and  the  other 
from  a  Dutch  brig  at  Jamestown,  Virginia.  One  was 
the  old  doctrine  of  Luther,  that  private  judgment, 
in  politics  as  well  as  religion,  is  the  right  and  duty 
of  every  man ;  and  the  other,  that  capital  should 

26 


402  CHIPS    FROM   THE    WHITE    HOUSE. 

own  labor,  that  the  negro  had  no  rights  of  man- 
hood, and  the  white  man  might  justly  buy,  own, 
and  sell  him  and  his  offspring  forever.  Thus  free- 
dom and  equality  on  the  one  hand,  and  on  the 
other  the  slavery  of  one  race  and  the  domination  of 
another,  were  the  two  germs  planted  on  this  con- 
tinent. In  our  vast  expanse  of  wilderness,  for 
a  long  time,  there  was  room  for  both ;  and  their 
advocates  began  the  race  across  the  continent, 
each  developing  the  social  and  political  institutions 
of  their  choice.  Both  had  vast  interests  in  com- 
mon ;  and  for  a  long  time  neither  was  conscious 
of  the  fatal  antagonisms  that  were  developing. 

For  nearly  two  centuries  there  was  no  serious 
collision ;  but  when  the  continent  began  to  fill  up, 
and  the  people  began  to  jostle  against  each  other ; 
when  the  Roundhead  and  the  Cavalier  came  near 
enough  to  measure  opinions,  the  irreconcilable 
character  of  the  two  doctrines  began  to  appear. 
Many  conscientious  men  studied  the  subject,  and 
came  to  the  belief  that  slavery  was  a  crime,  a  sin, 
or,  as  Wesley  said,  '  the  sum  of  all  villanies.' 
This  belief  dwelt  in  small  minorities  for  a  long 
time.  It  lived  in  the  churches  and  vestries,  but 
later  found  its  way  into  the  civil  and  political 
organizations  of  the  country,  and  finally  found  its 
way  into  this  chamber.  A  few  brave,  clear-sighted, 
far-seeing  men  announced  it  here,  a  little  more 
than  a  generation  ago.  A  predecessor  of  mine, 


JAMES    A.    GAEFIELD.  403 

Joshua  E.  Giddings,  following  the  lead  of  John 
Quincy  Adams,   of  Massachusetts,    almost   alone 
held  up  the  banner  on  this  floor,  and  from  year  to 
year  comrades  came  to  his  side.     Through  evil 
and  through  good  report  he  pressed  the  question  / 
upon  the  conscience  of  the  nation,  and  bravely/ 
stood  in  his  place  in  this  House,  until  his  white  \ 
locks,  like  the  plume  of  Henry  of  Navarre,  showed 
where  the  battle  of  freedom  raged  most  fiercely. 

And  so  the  contest  continued;  the  supporters 
of  slavery  believing  honestly  and  sincerely  that 
slavery  was  a  divine  institution ;  that  it  found  its 
high  sanctions  in  the  living  oracles  of  God  and  in 
a  wise  political  philosophy;  that  it  was  justified 
by  the  necessities  of  their  situation;  and  that 
slave-holders  were  missionaries  to  the  dark  sons 
of  Africa,  to  elevate  and  bless  them.  We  are  so 
far  past  the  passions  of  that  early  time  that  we 
can  now  study  the  progress  of  the  struggle  as  a 
great  and  inevitable  development,  without  sharing 
in  the  crimination  and  recrimination  that  attended 
it.  If  both  sides  could  have  seen  that  it  was  a 
contest  beyond  their  control ;  if  both  parties  could 
have  realized  the  truth  that  "  unsettled  questions 
have  no  pity  for  the  repose  of  nations,"  much  less 
for  the  fate  of  political  parties,  the  bitterness,- the 
sorrow,  the  tears,  and  the  blood  might  have  been 
avoided.  But  we  walked  in  the  darkness,  our 
paths  obscured  by  the  smoke  of  the  conflict,  each 


404  CHIPS  FROM   THE   WHITE   HOUSE. 

following  his  own  convictions  through  ever-increas- 
ing fierceness,  until  the  debate  culminated  in  "  the 
last  argument  to  which  kings  resort." 

This  conflict  of  opinion  was  not  merely  one  of 
sentimental  feeling ;  it  involved  our  whole  politi- 
cal system ;  it  gave  rise  to  two  radically  different 
theories  of  the  nature  of  our  government;  the 
North  believing  and  holding  that  we  were  a  nation, 
the  South  insisting  that  we  were  only  a  confedera- 
tion of  sovereign  States,  and  insisting  that  each 
State  had  the  right,  at  its  own  discretion,  to  break 
the  Union,  and  constantly  threatening  secession 
where  the  full  rights  of  slavery  were  not  acknowl- 
edged. 

Thus  the  defence  and  aggrandizement  of  slavery, 
and  the  hatred  of  abolitionism,  became  not  only 
the  central  idea  of  the  Democratic  party,  but  its 
master  passion,  —  a  passion  intensified  and  in- 
flamed by  twenty-five  years  of  fierce  political  con- 
test, which  had  not  only  driven  from  its  ranks  all 
those  who  preferred  freedom  to  slavery,  but  had 
absorbed  all  the  extreme  pro-slavery  elements  of 
the  fallen  Whig  party.  Over  against  this  was 
arrayed  the  Republican  party,  asserting  the  broad 
doctrines  of  nationality  and  loyalty,  insisting  that 
no  State  had  a  right  to  secede,  that  secession  was 
treason,  and  demanding  that  the  institution  of 
slavery  should  be  restricted  to  the  limits  of  the 
States  where  it  already  existed.  But  here  and 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  405 

there  many  bolder  and  more  radical  thinkers  de- 
clared, with  Wendell  Phillips,  that  there  never 
could  be  union  and  peace,  freedom  and  prosperity, 
until  we  were  willing  to  see  John  Hancock  under 
a  black  skin. 

Mr.  Chairman,  ought  the  Republican  party  to 
surrender  its  truncheon  of  command  to  the  Democ- 
racy? The  gentleman  from  Mississippi  says,  if 
this  were  England,  the  ministry  would  go  out  in 
twenty-four  hours  with  such  a  state  of  things  as  we 
have  here.  Ah,  yes  !  that  is  an  ordinary  case  of 
change  of  administration.  But  if  this  were  Eng- 
land, what  would  she  have  done  at  the  end  of  the 
war?  England  made  one  such  mistake  as  the 
gentleman  asks  this  country  to  make,  when  she 
threw  away  the  achievements  of  the  grandest  man 
that  ever  trod  her  highway  of  power.  Oliver 
Cromwell  had  overturned  the  throne  of  despotic 
power,  and  had  lifted  his  country  to  a  place  of 
masterful  greatness  among  the  nations  of  the  earth ; 
and  when,  after  his  death,  his  great  sceptre  was 
transferred  to  a  weak  though  not  unlinealhand,  his 
country,  in  a  moment  of  reactionary  blindness, 
brought  back  the  Stuarts.  England  did  not  re- 

O  O 

cover  from  that  folly  until,  in  1689,  the  Prince  of 
Orange  drove  from  her  island  the  last  of  that  weak 
and  wicked  line.  Did  she  afterward  repeat  the 
blunder? 


406  CHIPS  FROM  THE   WHITE   HOUSE. 

I  am  aware  that  there  is  a  general  disposition 
"  to  let  by-gones  be  by-gones,"  and  to  judge  of 
parties  and  of  men,  not  by  what  they  have  been, 
but  by  what  they  are  and  what  they  propose. 

That  view  is  partly  just  and  partly  erroneous. 
It  is  just  and  wise  to  bury  resentments  and  an- 
imosities. It  is  erroneous  in  this,  that  parties  have 
an  organic  life  and  spirit  of  their  own  —  an  individ- 
uality and  character  which  outlive  the  men  who 
compose  them ;  and  the  spirit  and  traditions  of  a 
party  should  be  considered  in  determining  their 
fitness  for  managing  the  affairs  of  a  nation. 

I  will  close  by  calling  your  attention  again  to 
the  great  problem  before  us.  Over  this  vast  hori- 
zon of  interests  North  and  South,  above  all  party 
prejudices  and  personal  wrong-doing,  above  our 
battle  hosts  and  our  victorious  cause,  above  all 
that  we  hoped  for  and  won,  or  you  hoped  for  and 
lost,  is  the  grand,  onward  movement  of  the  Re- 
public to  perpetuate  its  glory,  to  save  liberty  alive, 
to  preserve  exact  and  equal  justice  to  all,  to  pro- 
tect and  foster  all  these  priceless  principles,  until 
they  shall  have  crystalized  into  the  form  of  endur- 
ing law,  and  become  inwrought  into  the  life  and 
the  habits  of  our  people. 

And,  until  these  great  results  are  accomplished, 
it  is  not  safe  to  take  one  step  backward.  It  is  still 
more  unsafe  to  trust  interests  of  such  measureless 


JAMES   A.    GARFIELD.  407 

value  in  the  hands  of  an  organization  whose  mem- 
bers have  never  comprehended  their  epoch,  have 
never  been  in  sympathy  with  its  great  movements, 
who  have  resisted  every  step  of  its  progress,  and 
whose  principal  function  has  been 

"  '  To  lie  in  cold  obstruction ' 
across  the  pathway  of  the  nation. 

"No,  no,  gentlemen,  our  enlightened  and  pa- 
triotic people  will  not  follow  such  leaders  in  the 
rearward  march.  Their  myriad  faces  are  turned 
the  other  way ;  and  along  their  serried  lines  still 
rings  the  cheering  cry,  '  Forward !  till  our  great 
work  is  fully  and  worthily  accomplished.'  " 

[From  a  Speech  in  Congress,  1866.] 

Duties  should  be  so  high  that  our  manufacturers 
can  fairly  compete  with  the  foreign  product,  but 
not  so  high  as  to  enable  them  to  drive  out  the  for- 
eign article,  enjoy  a  monopoly  of  the  trade,  and 
regulate  the  price  as  they  please.  This  is  my  doc- 
trine of  protection.  ...  I  am  for  a  protection  that 
leads  to  ultimate  free  trade.  I  am  for  that  free 
trade  which  can  only  be  achieved  through  a  reason- 
able protection. 

[Letter  to  A.  B.  Hinsdale.] 

WASHINGTON,  January  1,  1867. 

I  am  less  satisfied  with  the  present  aspect  of  pub- 
lic affairs  than  I  have  been  for  a  long  time.  .  .  . 


408  CHIPS    FROM   THE    WHITE    HOUSE. 

Really  there  seems  to  be  a  fear  on  the  part  of  many 
of  our  friends  that  they  may  do  some  absurdly 
extravagant  thing  to  prove  their  radicalism.  I  am 
trying  to  do  two  things  :  dare  to  be  a  radical  and 
not  be  a  fool,  which,  if  I  may  judge  by  the  exhibi- 
tions around  me,  is  a  matter  of  no  small  difficulty. 
.  .  .  My  own  course  is  chosen,  and  it  is  quite 
probable  it  will  throw  me  out  of  public  life. 

We  provide  for  the  common  defence  by  a  system 
which  promotes  the  general  welfare. 

[From  an  Address  at  Hiram  College,  June  14,  1-867.] 

It  is  to  me  a  perpetual  wonder  how  any  child's 
love  of  knowledge  survives  the  outrages  of  the 
school-house.  I,  for  one,  declare  that  no  child  of 
mine  shall  ever  be  Compelled  to  study  one  hour,  or 
to  learn  even  the  English  alphabet,  before  he  has 
deposited  under  his  skin  at  least  seven  years  of 
muscle  and  bone. 

[From  the  Same.] 

The  student  should  study  himself,  his  relations 
to  society,  to  nature,  and  to  art,  and  above  all,  in 
all,  and  tlirough  all  these,  he  should  study  the  rela- 
tions of  himself,  society,  nature,  and  art,  to  God, 
the  Author  of  them  all. 


JAMES    A.   GAEFIELD.  409 

[From  the  Same.] 

It  is  well  to  know  the  history  of  those  magnifi- 
cent nations  whose  origin  is  lost  in  fable,  and 
whose  epitaphs  were  written  a  thousand  years  ago 
—  but  if  we  cannot  know  both,  it  is  far  better  to 
study  the  history  of  our  own  nation,  whose  origin 
we  can  trace  to  the  freest  and  noblest  aspirations 
of  the  human  heart  —  a  nation  that  was  formed 
from  the  hardiest,  purest,  and  most  enduring  ele- 
ments of  European  civilization  —  a  nation  that,  by 
its  faith  r:id  courage,  has  dared  and  accomplished 
more  for  the  human  race  in  a  single  century  than 
Europe  accomplished  in  the  first  thousand  years 
of  the  Christian  era.  The  New  England  township 
was  the  type  after  which  our  Federal  Government 
was  modelled ;  yet  it  would  be  rare  to  find  a  col- 
lege student  who  can  make  a  comprehensive  and 
intelligible  statement  of  the  municipal  organization 
of  the  township  in  which  he  was  born,  and  tell  you 
by  what  officers  its  legislative,  judicial,  and  execu- 
tive functions  were  administered.  One  half  of 
the  time  which  is  now  almost  wasted,  in  district 
schools,  on  English  Grammar,  attempted  at  too 
early  an  age,  would  be  sufficient  to  teach  our  chil- 
dren to  love  the  Republic,  and  to  become  its  loyal 
and  life-long  supporters.  After  the  bloody  bap- 
tism from  which  the  nation  has  arisen  to  a  higher 
and  nobler  life,  if  this  shameful  defect  in  our  sys- 


410  CHIPS   FEOM   THE   WHITE   HOUSE. 

tern  of  education  be  not  speedily  remedied,  we 
shall  deserve  the  infinite  contempt  of  future  gene- 
rations. I  insist  that  it  should  be  made  an  indis- 
pensable condition  of  graduation  in  every  American 
college,  that  the  student  must  understand  the  his- 
tory of  this  continent  since  its  discovery  by  Euro- 
peans, the  origin  and  history  of  the  United  States, 
its  constitution  of  government,  the  struggles  through 
which  it  has  passed,  and  the  rights  and  duties  of 
citizens  who  are  to  determine  its  destiny  and  share 
its  glory. 

Having  thus  gained  the  knowledge  which  is 
necessary  to  life,  health,  industry,  and  citizenship, 
the  student  is  prepared  to  enter  a  wider  and  grand- 
er field  of  thought.  If  he  desires  that  large  and 
liberal  culture,  which  will  call  into  activity  all  his 
powers,  and  make  the  most  of  the  material  God 
has  given  him,  he  must  study  deeply  and  earnestly 
the  intellectual,  the  moral,  the  religious,  and  the 
aesthetic  nature  of  man ;  his  relations  to  nature,  to 
civilization,  past  and  present,  and  above  all,  his 
relations  to  God.  These  should  occupy  nearly,  if 
not  fully,  half  the  time  of  his  college  course.  In 
connection  with  the  philosophy  of  the  mind,  he 
should  study  logic,  the  pure  mathematics,  and  the 
general  laws  of  thought.  In  connection  with  moral 
philosophy,  he  should  study  political  and  social 
ethics  —  a  science,  so  little  known  either  in  colleges 
or  congresses.  Prominent  among  all  the  rest 


JAMES    A.    GAREIELD.  411 

should  be  his  study  of  the  wonderful  history  of  the 
human  race,  in  its  slow  and  toilsome  march  across 
the  centuries  —  now  buried  in  ignorance,  supersti- 
tion and  crime ;  now  rising  to  the  sublimity  of 
heroism  and  catching  a  glimpse  of  a  better  destiny  ; 
now  turning  remorselessly  away  from,  and  leaving 
to  perish,  empires  and  civilizations  in  which  it  had 
invested  its  faith,  and  courage,  and  boundless  en- 
ergy for  a  thousand  years,  and  plunging  into  the 
forests  of  Germany,  Gaul,  and  Britain,  to  build  for 
itself  new  empires,  better  fitted  for  its  new  aspira- 
tions ;  and,  at  last,  crossing  three  thousand  miles 
of  unknown  sea,  and  building  in  the  wilderness  of 
a  new  hemisphere  its  latest  and  proudest  monu- 
ments. 


[Speech  in  the  House  of  Representatives,  February  12, 1867.] 

I  cannot  forget  that  we  have  learned  slowly. 
...  I  cannot  forget  that  less  than  five  years  ago 
I  received  an  order  from  my  superior  officer  com- 
manding me  to  search  my  camp  for  a  fugitive 
slave,  and  if  found,  to  deliver  him  up  to  a  Ken- 
tucky captain  who  claimed  him  as  his  property; 
and  /  had  the  honor  to  be  perhaps  the  first  officer 
in  the  army  who  peremptorily  refused  to  obey  such 
an  order.  We  were  then  trying  to  save  the  Union 
without  hurting  slavery.  ...  It  took  us  two  years 
to  reach  a  point  where  we  were  willing  to  do  the 


412  CHIPS   FROM   THE   WHITE   HOUSE. 

most  meagre  justice  to  the  black  man,  and  to  rec- 
ognize the  truth  that 

"  A  man's  a  man  for  a'  that! " 

Sir,  the  hand  of  God  has  been  visible  in  this 
work,  leading  us  by  degrees  out  of  the  blindness 
of  our  prejudices,  to  see  that  the  fortunes  of  the 
Republic  and  the  safety  of  the  party  of  liberty  are 
inseparably  bound  up  with  the  rights  of  the  black 
man.  At  last  our  party  must  see  that  if  it  would 
preserve  its  political  life,  or  maintain  the  safety  of 
the  Republic,  we  must  do  justice  to  the  humblest 
man  in  the  Nation,  whether  black  or  white.  I 
thank  God  that  to-day  we  have  struck  the  rock ; 
we  have  planted  our  feet  upon  solid  earth.  Streams 
of  light  will  gleam  out  from  the  luminous  truth 
embodied  in  the  legislation  of  this  day.  This  is 
the  ne  plus  ultra  of  reconstruction,  and  I  hope  we 
shall  have  the  courage  to  go  before  our  people 
everywhere  with  "  This  or  nothing"  for  our  motto. 

Now,  sir,  as  a  temporary  measure,  I  give  my 
support  to  this  military  bill  properly  restricted. 
It  is  severe.  It  was  written  with  a  steel  pen  made 
out  of  a  bayonet ;  and  bayonets  have  done  us 
good  service  hitherto.  All  I  ask  is  that  Congress 
shall  place  civil  governments  before  these  people 
of  the  rebel  States,  and  a  cordon  of  bayonets 
behind  them. 


JAMES    A.   GARFIELD.  413 

Now,  what  does  this  bill  propose?  It  lays  the 
hands  of  the  Nation  upon  the  rebel  State  govern- 
ments, and  takes  the  breath  of  life  out  of  them. 
It  puts  the  bayonet  at  the  breast  of  every  rebel 
murderer  in  the  South  to  bring  him  to  justice.  It 
commands  the  army  to  protect  the  life  and  prop- 
erty of  citizens  whether  black  or  white.  It  places 
in  the  hands  of  Congress  absolutely  and  irrevo- 
cably the  whole  work  of  reconstruction. 

With  this  thunderbolt  in  our  hands  shall  we 
stagger  like  idiots  under  its  weight?  Have  we 
grasped  a  weapon  which  we  have  neither  the 
courage  nor  the  wisdom  to  wield  ? 

WILLIAM   H.    SEWARD.* 

When  in'  Europe  in  1867,  my  attention  was 
particularly  drawn  to  the  significant  fact  that  the 
pictures  of  Lincoln  and  Seward  were  the  only  por- 
traits of  American  statesmen  that  were  notably 
prominent,  and  that  these  were  everywhere  seen 
together.  I  asked  a  Frenchman  of  distinction  why 

*  "Another  talk  that  I  recall  was  at  a  social  gathering.  It 
was  at  a  dinner-party,  after  the  failure  of  Greeley's  cam- 
paign. The  host  was,  perhaps,  the  most  original  genius  in 
Washington.  He  was  an  old  companion  of  Greeley  at 
Brook  Farm.  He  was  giving  the  dinner  in  payment  of  a 
bet  he  had  lost  by  reason  of  Greeley's  defeat.  The  conver- 
sation embraced  all  the  topics  of  the  day,  and,  in  the  course 
of  it,  turned  to  Seward.  A  member  of  the  company 
thought  that  Seward  had  been  dead  years  before  he  was  put 


414  CHIPS   FROM   THE    WHITE    HOUSE. 

Seward  was  held  in  such  high  estimation ;  and  his 
answer  most  seriously  impressed  me  with  the 
thought  that  perhaps,  after  all  the  slanders  of  his 
detractors,  Mr.  Seward  had  buildcd  for  the  future 
more  wisely  than  we  knew.  This  gentleman  said  : 
"  Mr.  Seward  is  the  American  statesman  who  looms 
up  the  most  prominently  from  over  the  water. 
His  diplomacy  in  Mexico  has  placed  the  imprint  of 
greatness  upon  his  name.  Halting  for  a  moment 
in  the  midst  of  the  turmoil  of  the  civil  war,  with 
his  pen  he  dismembered  the  coalition  organized  to 
place  Maximilian  upon  the  Mexican  throne,  and 
thus  placed  the  first  mine»under  the  throne  of  the 
Third  Bonaparte.  He  has  undertaken  what  the 
combined  powers  of  Europe  have  not  ventured  to 
essay  —  to  break  the  sceptre  of  the  Second  Em- 
pire." The  views  entertained  by  this  distinguished 
Frenchman  seem  also  to  have  been  held  in  Mexico, 
for  upon  the  occasion  of  the  death  of  Mr.  Seward, 
the  press  of  that  country  all  made  the  most  grate- 
ful mention  of  his  services  in  that  regard. 

into  the  grave.  General  Garfield  thought  differently,  and 
delivered,  on  the  spur  of  the  moment,  a  remarkable  eulogy 
on  the  dead  statesman.  Soon  afterward,  I  reduced  to  notes 
the  outlines  of  that  eulogy,  so  far  as  my  memory  served 
me,  and  I  reproduce  it  here.  General  Garfield  possesses 
rare  convei-sational  powers,  and  uses,  in  social  discourse,  a 
diction  not  less  eloquent  and  elegant  than  that  to  which  ho 
is  accustomed  in  the  forurn."  —  Washington  Correspondent 
of  the  Chicago  Tribune. 


JAMES    A.    GAEFIELD.  415 

The  enthusiasm  of  this  Frenchman,  continued 
General  Garfield,  had  not  perished  from  my 
memory  later  when  public  duties  called  me  to  the 
State  Department,  The  Alaska  treaty  had  just 
been  signed.  I  found  the  Sage  of  Auburn  alone, 
in  the  thoughtful  mood  so  common  to  him  when 
meditating  upon  great  subjects.  Our  conversation 
fell  upon  himself,  and  I  found  that  he  had  been 
meditating  upon  his  withdrawl  from  public  life. 
He  had  been  eight  years  in  the  second  highest 
place  in  this  Nation.  He  had  almost  had  the 
Presidency  within  his  grasp ;  but  the  displeasure 
of  his  party  had  fallen  upon  him,  and  he  was  about 
to  retire  from  the  political  arena.  He  told  me  that 
power  was  sweet  to  him ;  that  he  clung  even  then 
fondly  to  its  shadow ;  and  that  he  relinquished  his 
sceptre  with  regret.  His  exact  language,  in  speak- 
ing of  his  past  career  was  :  "  It  is  unpleasant  to 
yield  up  power."  The  conversation  turned  upon 
Alaska.  The  Secretary  fell  into  the  dream-like 
attitude  that  was  never  seen  except  by  those  who 
were  familiar  with  him,  and  commenced  to  explain 
his  theory  of  the  Alaska  purchase  in  forcible,  pro- 
phetic, almost  pathetic  words  which  I  never  shall 
forget.  I  left  the  room  then  with  grander  ideas 
of  the  man  than  I  had  ever  entertained  before.  His 
conversation  indicated  that  he  had  been  following 
a  particular  course  of  study,  for  he  remarked  that, 
to  his  notion,  the  two  greatest  books  of  the  century 


416  CHIPS   FROM   THE    WHITE    HOUSE. 

were  Marsh's  "  Man  in  Nature,"  and  the  Duke  of 
Argyll's  "  Keign  of  Law."  The  application  of  Ar- 
gyll's theory  of  law  as  applied  to  political  develop- 
ment, Mr.  Seward  had  evidently  studied  with  much 
care.  He  had  been  reasoning  upon  natural  laws 
as  they  affect  a  nation.  He  had  been  speculating 
upon  the  elementary  forces  of  a  nation's  grandeur, 
and  upon  the  contrivance  in  combining  them  to 
make  them  operate  in  a  direction  desired.  This 
theory  was  founded  upon  the  possibility  of  tracing 
these  forces  in  history,  and  of  discovering  the 
operation  of  these  laws  under  conditions  which  had 
actually  determined  the  course  of  mankind  and 
nations  in  definite  directions.  The  text  of  his 
theory  was  the  history  of  the  world's  seas.  History 
had  taught  him  that  the  grandest  achievements  of 
man  had  been  associated  with  the  shores  of  the 
world's  seas.  To  go  back  no  further  than  the  be- 
ginning of  the  Christian  era,  the  most  sacred, 
solemn  story  of  the  hopes  of  man  had  been  written 
in  wanderings  on  the  banks  of  the  Sea  of  Galilee. 
With  the  progress  of  Christian  civilization,  thus 
sea-born,  the  advancing •  tide  of  human  progress 
was  staid  by  the  banks  of  the  Mediterranean.  It 
was  along  the  borders  of  this  sea  that  the  Byzantine 
Empire  flourished  and  was  destroyed ;  that  Eome 
attained  her  supremacy,  and  fell.  With  the  pro- 
gress of  time,  and  the  advance  of  civilization  west- 
ward, the  Atlantic  took  the  place  of  the  Galilean 


JAMES   A.    GAEFIELD.  417 

Sea  and  of  the  Mediterranean.  It  is  the  sea  of  the 
present.  But  unless  the  laws  of  political  geogra- 
phy are  false,  the  contests  of  the  future  are  to  be 
around  the  shores  of  the  "  still  sea,"  now  our  own 
Pacific.  The  nation  of  the  future  is  the  nation  that 
holds  the  key  of  those  waters.  The  purchase  of 
Alaska  has  given  our  Republic  a  foothold  on  both 
sides  of  that  sea.  It  is  a  geographical,  impossibil- 
ity that  any  other  nation  can  occupy  a  position  in 
its  own  territory  upon  both  sides  of  the  Pacific. 
This  is  the  theory  of  the  purchase.  It  secures  the 
control  of  the  Pacific  to  the  young  Republic.  It 
assures  the  future  of  the  world's  dominion  to 
Yankee  civilization.  This  was  the  theory. 

And  his  outlook,  said  General  Garfield,  with  en- 
thusiasm, was  grand.  In  his  political  horoscope, 
he  saw  the  Republic  enjoying  a  prosperity  of  which 
the  annals  of  human  affairs  had  furnished  no  ex- 
ample ;  he  saw  our  country  rising  to  the  place  of 
umpire  among  the  world's  powers ;  he  saw  how, 
by  wise  statesmanship,  our  material  prosperity  and 
peaceful  conquests  grew  together;  how  our  in- 
creasing commerce  made  us  mistress  of  the  seas ; 
how  Western  civilization  and  Oriental  decrepitude 
were  staid  upon  the  borders  of  that  Pacific  sea,  and 
compelled  to  render  homage  to  Young  America, 
who  had  become  the  keeper  of  the  world's  keys. 

These  were  the  grand  thoughts  of  Mr.  Seward 
as  he  was  about  to  relinquish  the  mantle  of  his 

27 


418  CHIPS  FEOM  THE   WHITE   HOUSE. 

power,  and,  continued  General  Garfield,  his  views 
have  left  a  lasting  impression  upon  me.  Mr. 
Seward  could  not  have  died  more  successfully  than 
he  did.  He  passed  away  in  the  lull  between  two 
elections,  and  received  the  merited  eulogiums  of 
both  parties.  He  bore  success  followed  by  failure 
better  than  any  American  I  know.  He  was  for 
nearly  a  decade  next  to  the  source  of  power,  and 
missed  the  place  which  was  the  goal  of  his  later 
years,  retiring  from  public  life  suffering  the  dis- 
pleasure of  his  party.  But  he  quietly  retired  to 
private  life,  and  never  lost  his  genial  spirit  or  his 
noble  ways. 

[This  report  of  the  conversation  is  indorsed  by 
General  Garfield  as  "  in  the  main  correct." 

J.  C.] 

[Speech  on  the  Currency  Question,  1868.] 

As  a  medium  of  exchange,  money  is  to  all  busi- 
ness transactions  what  ships  are  to  the  transporta- 
tion of  merchandise.  If  a  hundred  vessels,  of  a 
given  tonnage,  are  just  sufficient  to  carry  all  the 
commodities  between  two  ports,  any  increase  of 
the  number  of  vessels  will  correspondingly  decrease 
the  value  of  each  as  an  instrument  of  commerce ; 
any  decrease  below  one  hundred  will  correspond- 
ingly increase  the  value  of  each.  If  the  number 
be  doubled,  each  will  carry  but  half  its  usual  freight, 
will  be  worth  but  half  its  former  value  for  thai 


JAMES    A.    GAEFIELD.  419 

trade.  There  is  so  much  work  to  be  done,  and  no 
more.  A  hundred  vessels  can  do  it  all.  A  thou- 
sand can  do  no  more  than  all. 

When  the  money  of  the  country  is  gold  and  sil- 
ver, it  adapts  itself  to  the  fluctuations  of  business 
without  the  aid  of  legislation.  If  at  any  time  wo 
have  more  than  is  needed,  the  surplus  flows  off  to 
other  countries  through  the  channels  of  interna- 
tional commerce.  If  less,  the  deficiency  is  sup- 
plied through  the  same  channels.  Thus  the  mone- 
tary equilibrium  is  maintained.  So  immense  is 
the  trade  of  the  world,  that  the  golden  streams 
pouring  from  California  and  Australia  into  the 
specie  circulation  are  soon  absorbed  in  the  great 
mass,  and  equalized  throughout  the  world,  as  the 
waters  of  all  the  rivers  are  spread  upon  the  surface 
of  all  the  seas. 

Not  so,  however,  with  an  inconvertible  paper 
currency.  Excepting  the  specie  used  in  payment 
of  customs  and  the  interest  on  our  public  debt,  we 
are  cut  off  from  the  money  currents  of  the  world. 
Our  currency  resembles  rather  the  waters  of  an 
artificial  lake,  which  lie  in  stagnation  or  rise  to  full 
banks  at  the  caprice  of  the  gate-keeper. 

[A  Speech  on  Currency  and  the  Banks,  1870.] 

The  business  of  the  country  is  like  the  level  of 
the  ocean,  from  which  all  measurements  are  made 


420  CHIPS   FKOM  THE   WHITE   HOUSE. 

of  heights  and  depths.  Though  tides  and  currents 
may  for  a  time  disturb,  and  tempests  vex  and  toss 
its  surface,  still  through  calm  and  storm  the  grand 
level  rules  all  its  waves  and  lays  its  measuring- 
lines  on  every  shore.  So  the  business  cf  the  coun- 
try, which,  in  the  aggregated  demands  of  the  peo- 
ple for  the  exchange  of  values,  marks  the  ebb  and 
flow,  the  rise  and  fall  of  the  currents  of  trade,  and 
forms  the  base-line  from  which  to  measure  all  our 
financial  legislation,  and  is  the  only  safe  rule  by 
which  the  volume  of  our  currency  can  be  deter- 
mined. 


The  State  bank  system  was  a  chaos  of  ruin,  in 
which  the  business  of  the  country  was  again  and 
again  ingulfed.  The  people  rejoice  that  it  has 
been  swept  away,  and  they  will  not  consent  to  its 
re-establishment.  In  its  place  we  have  the  Na- 
tional-bank system,  based  on  the  bonds  of  the 
United  States,  and  sharing  the  safety  and  credit 
of  the  government.  Their  notes  are  made  secure, 
first,  by  a  deposit  of  government  bonds,  worth  at 
least  ten  per  cent,  more  than  the  whole  value  of 
the  notes ;  second,  by  a  paramount  lien  on  all  the 
assets  of  the  banks ;  third,  the  personal  liability 
of  all  the  shareholders  to  an  amount  equal  to  the 
capital  they  hold ;  and,  fourth,  the  absolute  guar- 
antee by  the  government  to  redeem  them  at  the 


JAMES   A.    GARFIELD.  421 

National  Treasury  if  the  banks  fail  to  do  so.  In- 
stead of  seven  thousand  different  varieties  of  notes, 
as  in  the  State  system,  we  have  now  but  ten  varie- 
ties, each  uniform  in  character  and  appearance. 
Like  our  flag,  they  bear  the  stamp  of  nationality, 
and  are  honored  in  every  part  of  the  Union. 

[From  a  Speech  in  the  House,  April  1,  1870.] 

As  an  abstract  theory  of  political  economy  free- 
trade  has  many  advocates,  and  much  can  be  said 
in  its  favor ;  nor  will  it  be  denied  that  the  scholar- 
ship of  modern  times  is  largely  on  that  side ;  that 
a  large  majority  of  the  great  thinkers  of  the  pres- 
ent day  are  leading  in  the  direction  of  what  is 
called  free-trade. 

While  this  is  true,  it  is  equally  undeniable  that 
the  principle  of  protection  has  always  been  recog- 
nized and  adopted  in  some  form  or  another  by  all 
nations,  and  is  to-day,  to  a  greater  or  less  extent, 
the  policy  of  every  civilized  government 

Protection,  in  its  practical  meaning,  is  that  pro- 
vident care  for  the  industry  and  development  of 
our  own  country  which  will  give  our  own  people 
an  equal  chance  in  the  pursuit  of  wealth,  and  save 
us  from  the  calamity  of  being  dependent  upon 
other  nations  with  whom  w^e  may  any  day  be  at 
war.  . 

In  so  far  as  the  doctrine  of  free-trade  is  a  pro- 


422  CHIPS   FKOM    THE    WHITE    HOUSE. 

test  against  the  old  system  of  oppression  and  pro- 
hibition, it  is  a  healthy  and  worthy  sentiment. 
But  underlying  all  theories,  there  is  a  strong  and 
deep  conviction  in  the  minds  of  a  great  majority 
of  our  people  in  favor  of  protecting  American  in- 
dustry  


[Speech  on  the  Fourteenth  Amendment  to  the  Constitution, 
April  4,  1871.] 

Nothing  more  aptly  describes  the  char- 
acter of  our  Republic  than  the  solar  system, 
launched  into  space  by  the  hand  of  the  Creator, 
where  the  central  sun  is  the  great  power  around 
which  revolve  all  the  planets  in  their  appointed 
orbits.  But  while  the  sun  holds  in  the  grasp  of 
its  attractive  power  the  whole  system,  and  imparts 
its  light  and  heat  to  all,  yet  each  individual  planet 
is  under  the  sway  of  laws  peculiar  to  itself., 

tinder  the  sway  of  terrestrial  laws,  winds  blow, 
waters  flow,  and  all  the  tenantries  of  the  planet 
live  and  move.  So,  sir,  the  States  move  on  in 
their  orbits  of  duty  and  obedience,  bound  to  the 
central  government  by  this  Constitution,  which  is 
their  supreme  law;  while  each  State  is  making 
laws  and  regulations  of  its  own,  developing  its 
own  energies,  maintaining  its  own  industries, 
managing  its  local  affairs  in  its  own  way,  subject 
only  to  the  supreme  but  beneficent  control  of  the 


JAMES   A.    GARFIELD.  423 

Union.  When  State-rights  ran  mad,  put  on  the 
form  of  secession,  and  attempted  to  drag  the  States 
out  of  the  Union,  we  saw  the  grand  lesson,  taught 
in  all  the  battles  of  the  late  war,  that  a  State  could 
no  more  be  hurled  from  the  Union,  without  ruin 
to  the  nation,  than  could  a  planet  be  thrown  from 
its  orbit  without  dragging  after  it,  to  chaos  and 
ruin,  the  whole  solar  universe.  

In  1865  we  had  a  debt  of  two  billions  seven 
hundred  and  seventy-two  millions  of  dollars  upon 
our  hands,  the  debt  accumulated  from  the  great 
results-  of  the  war ;  we  were  compelled  to  pay 
from  that  debt  one  hundred  and  fifty-one  millions 
of  dollars  in  coin  a  year  as  interest,  and  that  was  a 
dreadful  annual  burden.  In  the  year  after  the 
war  ended,  we  paid  five  hundred  and  ninety  mil- 
lions of  dollars  over  our  counter  in  settling  the 
business  of  the  war  and  maintaining  the  ordinary 
expenses  of  the  government.  These  tremendous 
burdens  it  seemed  for  a  time  we  could  not  carry, 
and  there  were  wicked  men,  and  despairing  men, 
and  men  who  said  we  ought  not  to  try  to  carry  the 
burdens  ;  but  the  brave  nation  said,  This  burden  is 
the  price  of  our  country's  life,  all  through  it  there 
is  the  price  of  blood  and  the  price  of  liberty,  and, 
therefore,  we  will  bow  our  knees  to  the  burden, 
we  will  carry  it  upon  the  stalwart  shoulders  of  the 
nation. 


424  CHIPS  FKOM  THE  WHITE   HOUSE. 


[Letter  to  Professor  Demmon,  December  16,  1871.] 

Since  I  entered  public  life,  I  have  con- 
stantly aimed  to  find  a  little  time  to  keep  alive  the 
spirit  of  my  classical  studies,  and  to  resist  that 
constant  tendency,  which  all  public  men  feel,  to 
grow  rusty  in  literary  studies,  and  particularly  in 
the  classical  studies.  I  have  thought  it  better  to 
select  some  one  line  of  classical  reading,  and,  if 
possible,  do  a  little  work  on  it  each  day.  For 
this  winter  I  am  determined  to  review  such  parts 
of  the  Odes  of  Horace  as  I  may  be  able  to  reach. 
And,  as  preliminary  to  that  work,  I  have  begun 
by  reading  up  the  bibliography  of  Horace. 

The  Congressional  Library  is  very  rich  in  ma- 
terials for  this  study,  and  I  am  amazed  to  find  bow 
deep  and  universal  has  been  the  impress  left  on 
the  cultivated  mind  of  the  world  by  Horace's 
writings. 

The  Student  should  study  himself,  his  relation 
to  Society,  to  Nature  and  to  Art  —  and  above  all, 
in  all,  and  through  all  these,  he  should  study  the 
relations  of  Himself,  Society,  Nature,  and  Art  to 
God  the  Author  of  them  all. 

Greek  is  perhaps  the  most  perfect  instrument 
of  Thought  ever  invented  by  Man,  and  its  Litera- 


JAMES   A.    GAEFIELD.  425 

ture  has  never  been  equalled  in  purity  of  style  and 
boldness  of  expression. 


History  is  but  the  unrolled  scroll  of  Prophecy. 
The  world's  history  is  a  divine  Poem,  of  which  the 
history  of  every  nation  is  a  canto,  and  every  man 
a  word.  Its  strains  have  been  pealing  along  down 
the  centuries,  and  though  there  have  been  mingled 
the  discords  of  warring  cannon  and  dying  men, 
yet  to  the  Christian,  Philosopher,  and  Historian  — 
the  humble  listener  —  there  has  been  a  divine 
melody  running  through  the  song  which  speaks 
of  hope  and  halcyon  days  to  come. 

The  lesson  of  History  is  rarely  learned  by  the 
actors  themselves. 

Theologians  in  all  ages  have  looked  out  admir- 
ingly upon  the  material  universe,  and  from  its 
inanimate  existences  demonstrated  the  Power, 
Wisdom,  and  Goodness  of  God ;  but  we  know  of 
no  one  who  has  demonstrated  the  same  attributes 
from  the  History  of  the  human  race. 

Mankind  have  been  slow  to  believe  that  order 
reigns  in  the  universe,  that  the  world  is  a  Cosmos, 
not  a  chaos. 


426  CHIPS   FROM   THE   WHITE   HOUSE. 

The  assertion  of  the  reign  of  Law  has  been 
stubbornly  resisted  at  every  step.  The  divinities 
of  Heathen  superstition  still  linger  in  one  form  or 
another  in  the  faith  of  the  ignorant,  and  even 
many  intelligent  men  shrink  from  the  contem- 
plation of  one  Supreme  Will  acting  regularly,  not 
fatuitously,  through  laws  beautiful  and  simple, 
rather  than  through  a  fitful  and  capricious  Provi- 
dence. 

English  liberty  to-day  rests  not  so  much  on  the 
government  as  on  those  rights  which  the  people 
have  wrested  from  the  government.  The  rights 
of  the  Englishman  outnumber  the  rights  of  the 
Englishman's  king. 

Poetry  is  the  language  of  Freedom. 

Liberty  can  be  safe  only  when  Suffrage  is  illu- 
minated by  education. 

[Speech  on  the  last  Census.] 

The  developments  of  statistics  are  causing  his- 
tory to  be  re-written.  Till  recently  the  historian 
studied  nature  in  the  aggregate,  and  gave  us  only 
the  story  of  princes,  dynasties,  sieges,  and  battles. 
Of  the  people  themselves  —  the  great  social  body, 
with  life,  growth,  forces,  elements,  etc. — he  told 
us  nothing.  Now,  statistical  inquiry  leads  us  into 
the  hovels,  houses,  workshops,  mines,  fields,  pris- 


JAMES    A.    GAEFIELD.  427 

ons,  hospitals,  and  all  places  where  human  nature 
displays  its  weakness  and  strength.  In  these 
explorations  he  discovers  the  seeds  of  national 
growth  and  decay,  and  thus  becomes  the  prophet 
of  his  generation. 

Statistical  science  is  indispensable  to  modern 
statesmanship.  In  legislation,  as  in  physical  sci- 
ence >  it  is  beginning  to  be  understood  that  we  can 
control  terrestrial  forces  only  by  obeying  their 
laws.  The  legislator  must  formulate  in  his  statis- 
tics not  only  the  national  will  but  also  those  great 
laws  of  social  life  revealed  by  statistics.  He  must 
study  society  rather  than  black-letter  learning. 
He  must  learn  the  truth  that  "  society  usually  pre- 
pares the  crime,  and  the  criminal  is  only  the  in- 
strument that  completes  it,"  that  statesmanship 
consists  rather  in  removing  causes  than  in  pun- 
ishing, or  evading  results. 

[Speech  on  National  Aid  to  Education,  February  6,  1872.] 

We  look  sometimes  with  great  admiration  at  a 
government  like  Germany,  that  can  command  the 
light  of  its  education  to  shine  everywhere,  that  can 
enforce  its  school  laws  everywhere  throughout  the 
Empire.  Under  our  system  we  do  not  rejoice  in 
that,  but  we  rather  rejoice  that  here  two  forces 
play  with  all  their  vast  power  upon  our  system  of 
education.  The  first  is  that  of  the  local  municipal 
power  under  our  State  government.  There  is  the 


428  CHIPS   FROM  THE  WHITE   HOUSE. 

centre  of  responsibility.     There  is  the  chief  edu- 
cational power 

But  there  is  another  force  even  greater  than  that 
of  the  State  and  the  local  governments.  It  is  the 
force  of  private  voluntary  enterprise,  that  force 
which  has  built  up  the  multitude  of  private  schools, 
academies,  and  colleges  throughout  the  United 
States,  not  always  wisely,  but  always  with  enthu- 
siasm and  wonderful  energy. 

I  am  considering  what  is  the  best  system  of 
organizing  the  educational  work  of  a  nation,  not 
from  the  political  stand-point  alone,  but  from  the 
stand-point  of  the  school-house  itself.  This  work 
of  public  education  partakes  in  a  peculiar  way  of 
the  spirit  of  the  human  mind  in  its  efforts  for 
culture.  The  mind  must  be  as  free  from  extra- 
neous control  as  possible ;  must  work  under  the 
inspiration  of  its  own  desires  for  knowledge ; 
and  while  instructors  and  books  are  necessary 
helps,  the  fullest  and  highest  success  must  spring 
from  the  power  of  self-help. 

So  the  best  system  of  education  is  that  which 
draws  its  chief  support  from  the  voluntary  effort 
of  the  community,  from  the  individual  effort  of 
citizens,  and  from  those  burdens  of  taxation  which 
they  voluntarily  impose  upon  themselves.  .  .  . 
Government  shall  be  only  a  help  to  them,  rather 
than  a  commander,  in  the  work  of  education. 


JAMES    A.    GARF1ELD.  429 

I  would  rather  be  beaten  in  Right  than  succeed 
in  Wrong. 

Present  evils  always  seem  greater  than  those 
that  never  come. 

Poverty  is  uncomfortable,  as  I  can  testify ;  but 
nine  times  out  of  ten  the  best  thing  that  can  hap- 
pen to  a  young  man  is  to  be  tossed  overboard  and 
compelled  to  sink  or  swim  for  himself.  In  all  my 
acquaintance  I  never  knew  a  man  to  be  drowned 
who  was  worth  the  saving. 

For  the  noblest  man  that  lives  there  still  re- 
mains a  conflict. 

No  man  can  make  a  speech  alone.  It  is  the 
great  human  power  that  strikes  up  from  a  thousand 
minds  that  acts  upon  him  and  makes  the  speech. 

After  the  battle  of  Arms  comes  the  battle  of 
History. 

There  is  a  fellowship  among  the  Virtues  by 
which  one  great,  generous  passion  stimulates 
another. 

Growth  is  better  than  Permanence,  and  per- 
manent growth  is  better  than  a'll. 

The  principles  of  Ethics  have  not  changed  by 
the  lapse  of  years. 


430  CHIPS    FROM   THE   WHITE   HOUSE. 

The  possession  of  great  power  no  doubt  carries 
with  it  a  contempt  for  mere  external  show. 

[From  a  Speech  on  Repealing  the  Salary  Clause,  1873.] 

One  of  the  brightest  and  greatest  of  men  I 
know  in  this  nation  [Louis  Agassiz] ,  a  man  who, 
perhaps,  has  done  as  much  for  its  intellectual  life 
as  any  other,  told  me  not  many  months  ago  that 
he  had  made  it  the  rule  of  his  life  to  abandon  any 
intellectual  pursuit  the  moment  it  became  com- 
mercially valuable ;  that  others  would  utilize  what 
he  had  discovered ;  that  his  field  of  work  was 
above  the  line  of  commercial  values,  and  when  he 
brought  down  the  great  truths  of  science  from  the 
upper  heights  to  the  level  of  commercial  values, 
a  thousand  hands  would  be  ready  to  take  them, 
and  make  them  more  valuable  in  the  markets  of 
the  world.  He  entered  upon  his  great  career,  not 
for  the  salary  it  gave  him,  for  that  was  meagre 
compared  with  the  pay  of  those  in  the  lower 
walks  of  life ;  but  he  followed  the  promptings  of 
his  great  nature,  and  worked  for  the  love  of  truth 
and  the  instruction  of  mankind. 

[Letter  to  B.  A.  Hinsdale,  1874.] 

The  worst  days  of  darkness  through  which  I 
have  ever  passed  have  been  greatly  alleviated  by 
throwing  m}rself  with  all  my  energy  into  some 
work  relating  to  others. 


JAMES    A.    GAEFIELD.  431 


[Speech  on  the  Currency  and  the  Public  Faith,  April  8, 
1874.] 

There  never  did  exist  on  this  earth  a  body  of 
men  wise  enough  to  determine  by  any  arbitrary 
rule  how  much  currency  is  needed  for  the  business 
of  a  great  country.  The  laws  of  trade,  the  laws 
of  credit,  the  laws  of  God  impressed  upon  the 
elements  of  this  world,  are  superior  to  all  legisla- 
tion ;  and  we  can  enjoy  the  benefits  of  these  immu- 
table laws  only  by  obeying  them. 

It  has  been  demonstrated  again  and  again  that 
upon  the  artisans,  the  farmers,  the  day-laborers 
falls  at  last  the  dead  weight  of  all  the  depreciation 
and  loss  that  irredeemable  paper-money  carries  in 
its  train.  Let  this  policy  be  carried  out,  and  the 
day  will  surely  and  speedily  come  when  the  nation 
will  clearly  trace  the  cause  of  its  disaster  to  those 
who  deluded  themselves  and  the  people  with  what 
Jefferson  fitly  called  ' '  legerdemain  tricks  of  paper- 
money." 

[Speech  on  the  Railway  Problem,  June  22,  1874.] 

We  are  so  involved  in  the  events  and  movements 
of  society  that  we  do  not  stop  to  realize  —  what  is 
undeniably  true  —  that  during  the  last  forty  years 
all  modern  societies  have  entered  upon  a  period 
of  change  more  marked,  more  pervading,  more 


432  CHIPS   FROM   THE   WHITE   HOUSE. 

radical  than  any  that  has  occurred  during  the  last 
three  hundred  years.  In  saying  this,  I  do  not  for- 
get our  own  political  and  military  history,  nor  the 
French  Revolution  of  1793.  The  changes  now 
taking  place  have  been  wrought,  and  are  being 
wrought,  mainly,  almost  wholly,  by  a  single  me- 
chanical contrivance,  the  steam  locomotive.  Im- 
agine, if  you  can,  what  would  happen  if  to-morrow 
morning  the  railway  locomotive,  and  its  corollary, 
the  telegraph,  were  blotted  from  the  earth.  At 
first  thought,  it  would  seem  impossible  to  get  on  at 
all  with  the  feeble  substitutes  we  should  be  com- 
pelled to  adopt  in  place  of  these  great  forces.  To 
what  humble  proportions  mankind  would  be  com- 
pelled to  scale  down  the  great  enterprises  they  are 
now  pushing  forward  with  such  ease  !  But  were 
this  calamity  to  happen,  we  should  simply  be 
placed  where  we  were  forty-three  years  ago. 

There  are  many  persons  now  living  who  well 
remember  the  day  when  Andrew  Jackson,  after 
four  weeks  of  toilsome  travel  from  his  home  in 
Tennessee,  reached  Washington  and  took  his  first 
oath  of  office  as  President  of  the  United  States. 
On  that  day  the  railway  locomotive  did  not  exist. 
During  that  year  Henry  Clay  was  struggling  to 
make  his  name  immortal  by  linking  it  with  the 
then  vast  project  of  building  a  national  road  —  a 
turnpike  —  from  the  national  capital  to  the  banks 
of  the  ISIississippi. 


JAMES   A.    GAEFIELD.  433 

In  the  autumn  of  that  very  year  George  Ste- 
phenson  ran  his  first  experimental  locomotive,  the 
"Rocket," from  Manchester  to  Liverpool  and  back. 
The  rumble  of  its  wheels,  redoubled  a  million 
times,  is  echoing  to-day  on  every  continent. 

The  American  people  have  done  much  for  the 
locomotive,  and  it  has  done  much  for  them.  We 
have  already  seen  that  it  has  greatly  reduced,  if 
not  wholly  destroyed,  the  danger  that  the  govern- 
ment will  fall  to  pieces  by  its  own  weight.  The 
railroad  lias  not  only  brought  our  people  and  their 
industries  together,  but  it  has  carried  civilization 
into  the  wilderness,  has  built  up  States  and  Terri- 
tories, which,  but  for  its  power,  would  have  re- 
mained deserts  for  a  century  to  come.  "Abroad 
and  at  home,"  as  Mr.  Adams  tersely  declares,  "it 
has  equally  nationalized  people  and  cosmopolized 
nations."  It  has  played  a  most  important  part  in 
the  recent  movement  for  the  unification  and  pres- 
ervation of  nations. 

It  enabled  us  to  do  what  the  old  military  science 
had  pronounced  impossible  —  to  conquer  a  revolted 
population  of  eleven  millions,  occupying  a  territory 
one-fifth  as  large  as  the  continent  of  Europe.  In 
an  able  essay  on  the  railway  system,  Mr.  Charles 
F.  Adams,  Jr.  has  pointed  out  some  of  the  remark- 
able achievements  of  the  railroad  in  our  recent 
history.  For  example,  a  single  railroad  track 

28 


434  CHIPS   FROM  THE   WHITE   HOUSE. 

enabled  Sherman  to  maintain  eighty  thousand  fight- 
ing men  three  hundred  miles  beyond  his  base  of 
supplies.  Another  line,  in  a  space  of  seven  days, 
brought  a  re-enforcement  of  two  fully  equipped 
army  corps  around  a  circuit  of  thirteen  hundred 
miles,  to  strengthen  an  army  at  a  threatened  point. 
He  calls  attention  to  the  still  more  striking  fact 
that  for  ten  years  past,  with  fifteen  hundred  mil- 
lions of  our  indebtedness  abroad,  an  enormous  debt 
at  home,  unparalleled  public  expenditures,  and  a 
depreciated  paper  currency,  in  defiance  of  all  past 
experience,  we  have  been  steadily  conquering  our 
difficulties,  have  escaped  the  predicted  collapse, 
and  are  promptly  meeting  our  engagements ;  be- 
cause, through  energetic  railroad  development,  the 
country  has  been  producing  real  wealth,  as  no 
country  has  produced  it  before.  Finally,  he  sums 
up  the  case  by  declaring  that  the  locomotive  has 
"  dragged  the  country  through  its  difficulties  in 
spite  of  itself." 

In  the  darkness  and  chaos  of  that  period,  the 
feudal  system  was  the  first  important  step  toward 
the  organization  of  modern  nations.  Powerful 
chiefs  and  barons  intrenched  themselves  in  castles, 
and,  in  return  for  submission  and  service,  gave  to 
their  vassals  rude  protection  and  ruder  laws.  But 
as  the  feudal  chiefs  grew  in  power  and  wealth, 
they  became  the  oppressors  of  their  people,  taxed 


JAMES   A.    GAEFIELD.  435 

and  robbed  them  at  will,  and  finally,  in  their  arro- 
gance, defied  the  kings  and  emperors  of  the  Medi- 
aeval States.  From  their  castles,  planted  on  the 
great  thoroughfares,  they  practised  the  most  capri- 
cious extortions  on  commerce  and  travel,  and  thus 
gave  to  modern  language  the  phrase,  "  levy  black- 
mail." 

The  consolidation  of  our  great  industrial  and 
commercial  companies,  the  power  they  wield,  and 
the  relations  they  sustain  to  the  State  and  to  the 
industry  of  the  people,  do  not  fall  far  short  of 
Fourier's  definition  of  commercial  or  industrial 
feudalism.  The  modern  barons,  more  powerful 
than  their  military  prototypes,  own  our  greatest 
highways,  and  levy  tribute  at  will  upon  all  our 
vast  industries.  And,  as  the  old  feudalism  was 
finally  controlled  and  subordinated  only  by  the 
combined  efforts  of  the  kings  and  the  people  of 
the  free  cities  and  towns,  so  our  modern  feudalism 
can  be  subordinated  to  the  public  good  only  by 
the  great  body  of  the  people,  acting  through  their 
governments  by  wise  and  just  laws. 

I  shall  not  now  enter  upon  the  discussion  of 
methods  by  which  this  great  work  of  adjustment 
may  be  accomplished.  But  I  refuse  to  believe 
that  the  genius  and  energy  which  have  developed 
these  new  and  tremendous  forces,  will  fail  to 
make  them,  not  the  masters,  but  the  faithful  ser- 
vants of  society.  It  will  be  a  disgrace  to  our  age 


436  CHIPS  FROM  THE   WHITE   HOUSE. 

and  to  us,  if  we  do  not  discover  some  method  by 
which  the  public  functions  of  these  organizations 
may  be  brought  into  full  subordination  to  the 
public,  and  that,  too,  without  violence,  and  with- 
out unjust  interference  with  the  rights  of  private 
individuals.  It  will  be  unworthy  of  our  age,  and 
of  us,  if  we  make  the  discussion  of  this  subject  a 
mere  warfare  against  men.  For  in  these  great 
industrial  enterprises  have  been,  and  still  are  en- 
gaged, some  of  the  noblest  and  worthiest  men  of 
our  time.  It  is  the  system  —  its  tendencies  and 
its  dangers  —  which  society  itself  has  produced, 
that  we  are  now  to  confront.  And  these  indus- 
tries must  not  be  crippled,  but  promoted.  The 
evils  complained  of  are  mainly  of  our  own  mak- 
ing. States  and  communities  have  willingly  and 
thoughtlessly  conferred  these  great  powers  upon 
railways ;  and  they  must  seek  to  rectify  their  own 
errors  without  injury  to  the  industries  they  have 
encouraged. 

It  depends  upon  the  wisdom,  the  culture,  the 
self-control  of  our  people  and  their  representa- 
tives, to  determine  how  wisely  and  how  well  this 
question  shall  be  settled.  But  that  it  will  be 
solved,  and  solved  in  the  interest  of  liberty  and 
justice,  I  do  not  doubt.  And  its  solution  will 
open  the  way  to  a  solution  of  a  whole  chapter  of 
similar  questions  that  relate  to  the  conflict  between 
capital  and  labor. 


JAMES   A.    GAEFIELD.  437 

[From  a  Speech  in  the  House  of  Representatives,  June, 

1874.] 

The  division  between  church  and  state  ought  to 
be  so  absolute  that  no  church  property  anywhere, 
in  any  State  or  in  the  nation,  should  be  exempt 
from  taxation ;  for,  if  you  exempt  the  property  of 
any  church  organization,  to  that  extent  you  impose 
a  church-tax  upon  the  whole  community. 

Occasion  may  be  the  bugle-call  that  summons 
an  army  to  battle,  but  the  blast  of  a  bugle  can 
never  make  soldiers  or  win  victories. 

Things  don't  turn  up  in  this  world  until  some- 
body turns  them  up.  "  . 

We  cannot  study  nature  profoundly  without 
bringing  ourselves  into  communion  with  the  spirit 
of  art  which  pervades  and  fills  the  universe. 

If  there  be  one  thing  upon  this  earth  that  man- 
kind love  and  admire  better  than  another,  it  is  a 
brave  man ;  it  is  a  man  who  dares  to  look  the 
devil  in  the  face,  and  tell  him  he  is  a  devil. 

It  is  one  of  the  precious  mysteries  of  sorrow, 
that  it  finds  solace  in  unselfish  thought. 

True  art  is  but  the  anti-type  of  nature,  the  em- 
bodiment of  discovered  beauty  in  utility. 


438  CHIPS   FROM   THE   WHITE   HOUSE. 

In  order  to  have  any  success  in  life,  or  any 
worthy  success,  you  must  resolve  to  carry  into 
your  work  a  fulness  of  knowledge ;  not  merely  a 
sufficiency,  but  more  than  a  sufficiency. 

Be  fit  for  more  than  the  thing  you  are  now  doing. 

If  you  are  not  too  large  for  the  place,  you  are 
too  small  for  it. 

What  the  arts  are  to  the  world  of  matter,  lit- 
erature is  to  the  world  of  mind. 

Many  books  we  can  read  in  a  railroad  car,  and 
feel  a  harmony  between  the  rushing  of  the  train 
and  the  haste  of  the  author ;  but  to  enjoy  stand- 
ard works,  we  need  the  quiet  of  a  winter  evening ; 
an  easy-chair  before  a  cheerful  fire,  and  all  the 
equanimity  of  spirits  we  can  command. 

He  who  would  understand  the  real  spirit  of 
literature  should  not  select  authors  of  any  one 
period  alone,  but  rather  go  to  the  fountain-head, 
and  trace  the  little  rill  as  it  courses  along  down 
the  ages,  broadening  and  deepening  into  the  great 
ocean  of  thought  which  the  men  of  the  present 
are  exploring. 

The  true  literary  man  is  no  mere  gleaner,  fol- 
lowing in  the  rear  and  gathering  up  the  fragments 
of  the  world's  thought ;  but  he  goes  down  deep 


JAMES   A.    GARFIELD.  439 

into  the  heart  of  humanity,  watches  its  throbbings ; 
analyzes  the  forces  at  work  there  ;  traces  out,  with 
prophetic  foresight,  their  tendencies,  and  thus, 
standing  out  far  beyond  his  age,  holds  up  the  pic- 
ture of  what  it  is  and  is  to  be. 

[Letter  to  A.  B.  Hinsdale,  1876.] 

I  have  followed  this  rule  [as  a  lawyer]  :  when- 
ever I  have  had  a  case,  I  have  undertaken  to  work 
out  thoroughly  the  principles  involved  in  it ;  not 
for  the  case  alone,  but  for  the  sake  of  comprehend- 
ing thoroughly  that  branch  of  the  law. 

[From  "Life  and  Character  of  Almeda  A.  Booth,"  June  22, 
1876.] 

We  can  study  no  life  intelligently  except  in  its 
relation  to  causes  and  results.  Character  is  the 
chief  element ;  for  it  is  both  a  result  and  a  cause 
—  the  result  of  all  the  elements  and  forces  that 
combined  to  form  it,  and  the  chief  cause  of  all 
that  is  accomplished  by  its  possessor 

Every  character  is  the  joint  product  of  nature 
and  nurture.  By  the  first,  we  mean  those  inborn 
qualities  of  body  and  mind  inherited  from  parents, 
or  rather  from  a  long  line  of  ancestors.  Who  shall 
estimate  the  effect  of  those  latent  forces,  enfolded 
in  the  spirit  of  a  new-born  child,  which  may  date 
back  centuries,  and  find  their  origin  in  the  unwrit- 
ten history  of  remote  ancestors — forces,  the  germs 


440  CHIPS  FROM  THE   WHITE  HOUSE. 

of  which,  enveloped  in  the  solemn  mystery  of  life, 
have  been  transmitted  silently,  from  generation  to 
generation,  and  never  perish?  All-cherishing  Na- 
ture, provident  and  unforgetting,  gathers  up  all 
these  fragments  that  nothing  may  be  lost,  but  that 
all  may  reappear  in  new  combinations.  Each  new 
life  is  thus  the  "  heir  of  all  the  ages,"  the  possessor 
of  qualities  which  only  the  events  of  life  can  un- 
fold. 

By  the  second  element,  nurture,  culture,  we 
designate  all  those  influences  which  act  upon  this 
initial  force  of  character,  to  retard  or  strengthen 
its  development.  There  has  been  much  discussion 
to  determine  which  of  these  elements  plays  the 
more  important  part  in  the  formation  of  character. 
The  truth  doubtless  is,  that  sometimes  the  one  and 
sometimes  the  other  is  the  greater  force ;  but  so 
far  as  life  and  character  are  dependent  upon  volun- 
tary action,  the  second  is  no  doubt  the  element  of 
chief  importance. 

[From  the  Same.] 

Not  enough  attention  has  been  paid  to  the  marked 
difference  between  the  situation  and  possibilities 
of  a  life  developed  here  in  the  West,  during  the 
first  half  of  .the  present  century,  and  those  of  a 
life  nurtured  and  cultivated  in  an  old  and  settled 
community  like  that  of  New  England. 

Consider,  for  example,  the  measureless  differ- 


JAMES   A.    GAKFIELD.  441 

ence  between  the  early  surroundings  of  John 
Quincy  Adams  and  Abraham  Lincoln.  Both 
were  possessed  of  great  natural  endowments. 
Adams  was  blessed  with  parents  whose  native 
force  of  character,  and  whose  vigorous  and  thor- 
ough culture  have  never  J)een  surpassed  by  any 
married  pair  in  America.  Young  Adams  was 
thoroughly  taught  by  his  mother  until  he  had  com- 
pleted his  tenth  year ;  and  then,  accompanying  his 
father  to  France,  he  spent  two  years  in  a  training- 
school  at  Paris  and  three  years  in  the  University  at 
Leyden.  After  two  years  of  diplomatic  service, 
under  the  skilful  guidance  of  his  father's  hand,  he 
returned  to  America,  and  devoted  three  years  to 
study  at  Harvard,  where  he  was  graduated  at  the 
age  of  twenty-one ;  and,  three  years  later,  was 
graduated  in  the  law,  under  the  foremost  jurist  of 
his  time.  With  such  parentage  and  such  oppor- 
tunities, who  can  wonder  that  by  the  time  he 
reached  the  meridian  of  his  life,  he  was  a  man  of 
immense  erudition,  and  had  honored  every  great 
office  in  the  gift  of  his  country  ? 

How  startling  the  contrast,  in  every  particular, 
between  his  early  life  and  that  of  Abraham  Lin- 
coln. .  .  .  Born  to  an  inheritance  of  the  extrem- 
est  poverty,  wholly  unaided  by  his  parents,  sur- 
rounded by  the  rude  forces  of  the  wilderness,  only 
one  year  at  any  school,  never  for  a  day  master  of 
his  own  time  until  he  reached  his  majority,  forcing 


442  CHIPS   FROM  THE   WHITE   HOUSE. 

his  way  to  the  profession  of  the  law  by  the  hard- 
est and  roughest  road,  and  beginning  its  practice 
at  twenty-eight  years  of  age,  yet,  by  the  force  of 
unconquerable  will  and  persistent  hard  work,  he 
attained  a  foremost  place  in  his  profession. 

"And,  moving  up  "from  high  to  higher, 
Became,  on  fortune's  crowning  slope, 
The  pillar  of  a  people's  hope, 
The  centre  of  a  world's  desire." 

[From  the  Same.] 

It  is  one  of  the  precious  mysteries  of  sorrow, 
that  it  finds  solace  in  unselfish  work. 

A  pound  of  pluck  is  worth  a  ton  of  luck.  Let 
not  poverty  stand  as  an  obstacle  in  your  way. 

Here  is  the  volume  of  our  laws.  More  sacred 
than  the  twelve  tables  of  Rome,  this  rock  of  the 
law  rises  in  monumental  grandeur  alike  above  the 
people  and  the  President,  above  the  courts,  above 
Congress,  commanding  everywhere  reverence  and 
obedience  to  its  supreme  authority. 

That  man  makes  a  vital  mistake  who  judges 
truth  in  relation  to  financial  affairs  from  the  chanjj- 

O 

ing  phases  of  public  opinion.  He  might  as  well 
stand  on  the  shore  of  the  Bay  of  Fundy,  mid  from 
the  ebb  and  flow  of  a  single  tide  attempt  to  deter- 
mine the  general  level  of  the  sea,  as  to  stand  upon 
this  floor,  and  from  the  current  of  public  opinion 


JAMES   A.    GARFIELD.  443 

on  any  one  debate,  judge  of  the  general  level  of 
the  public  mind.  It  is  only  when  long  spaces 
along  the  shore  of  the  sea  are  taken  into  account 
that  the  grand  level  is  found  from  which  the 
heights  and  depths  are  measured.  And  it  is  only 
when  long  spaces  of  time  are  considered,  that  we 
find  at  last  that  level  of  public  opinion  which  we 
call  the  general  judgment  of  mankind. 

Bad  faith  on  the  part  of  an  individual,  a  city,  or 
even  a  State,  is  a  small  evil  in  comparison  with 
the  calamities  which  follow  bad  faith  on  the  part 
of  a  sovereign  government. 

In  the  complex  and  delicately  adjusted  relations 
of  modern  society,  confidence  in  promises  lawfully 
made  is  the  life-blood  of  trade  and  commerce.  It 
is  the  vital  air  Labor  breathes.  It  is  the  light 
which  shines  on  the  pathway  of  prosperity. 

An  act  of  bad  faith  on  the  part  of  a  State  or 
municipal  corporation,  like  poison  in  the  blood, 
will  transmit  its  curse  to  succeeding  generations. 

"We  are  accustomed  to  hear  it  said  that  the  great 
powers  of  government  in  this  country  are  divided 
into  two  classes ;  National  powers  and  State 
powers.  That  is  an  incomplete  classification. 
Our  fathers  carefully  divided  all  governmental 
powers  into  three  classes ;  one  they  gave  to  the 


444  CHIPS   FROM  THE   WHITE   HOUSE. 

States,  another  to  the  Nation ;  but  the  third  great 
class,  comprising  the  most  precious  of  all  powers, 
they  refused  to  confer  on  the  State  or  Nation,  but 
reserved  to  themselves.  This  third  class  of 
powers  has  been  almost  uniformly  overlooked  by 
men  who  have  written  and  discussed  the  American 
system. 

Congress  must  always  be  the  exponent  of  the 
political  character  and  culture  of  the  people,  and 
if  the  next  centennial  does  not  find  us  a  great  Na- 
tion with  a  great  and  worthy  Congress,  it  will  be 
because  those  who  represent  the  enterprise,  the 
culture,  and  the  morality  of  the  Nation  do  not  aid 
in  controlling  the  political  forces  which  are  em- 
ployed to  select  the  men  who  shall  occupy  the 
great  places  of  trust  and  power. 

There  is  scarcely  a  conceivable  form  of  corrup- 
tion or  public  wrong  that  does  not  at  last  present 
itself  at  the  cashier's  desk  and  demand  money. 
The  Legislature  therefore,  that  stands  at  the  cash- 
ier's desk  and  watches  with  its  Argus  eyes  the  de- 
mands for  payment  over  the  counter  is  most  cer- 
tain to  see  all  the  forms  of  public  rascality. 

A  steady  and  constant  Revenue  drawn  from 
sources  that  represent  the  prosperity  of  the  nation, 
—  a  Eevenue  that  grows  with  the  growth  of  na- 
tional wealth,  and  is  so  adjusted  to  the  expendi- 


JAMES   A.    GARFIELD.  445 

tures,  that  a  constant  and  considerable  surplus  is 
annually  left  in  the  Treasury  above  all  the  neces- 
sary current  demands,  a  surplus  that  keeps  the 
Treasury  strong,  that  holds  it  above  the  fear  of 
sudden  panic,  that  makes  it  impregnable  against 
all  private  combinations,  that  makes  it  a  terror  to 
all  stock-jobbing  and  gold-gambling,  —  this  is  fi- 
nancial health. 

[From  the  "Atlantic  Monthly,"  July,  1877.] 

The  most  alarming  feature  of  our  situation  is 
the  fact,  that  so  many  citizens  of  high  character 
and  solid  judgment  pay  but  little  attention  to  the 
sources  of  political  power,  to  the  selection  of  those 
who  shall  make  their  laws.  ...  It  is  precisely 
this  neglect  of  the  first  steps  in  our  political  pro- 
cesses that  has  made  possible  the  worst  evils  of 
our  system.  Corrupt  and  incompetent  presidents, 
judges,  and  legislators  can  be  removed,  but  when 
the  fountains  of  political  power  are  corrupted, 
when  voters  themselves  become  venal,  and  elections 
fraudulent,  there  is  no  remedy  except  by  awaken- 
ing the  public  conscience,  and  bringing  to  bear 
upon  the  subject  the  power  of  public  opinion  and 
the  penalties  of  the  law.  ...  In  a  word,  our 
national  safety  demands  that  the  fountains  of 
political  power  shall  be  made  pure  by  intelligence, 
and  kept  pure  by  vigilance ;  that  the  best  citizens 
shall  take  heed  to  the  selection  and  election  of  the 


446  CHIPS   FROM  THE   WHITE   HOUSE. 

worthiest  and  most  intelligent  among  them  to  hold 
seats  in  the  national  legislature  ;  and  that  when  the 
choice  has  been  made,  the  continuance  of  their 
representatives  shall  depend  upon  his  faithfulness, 
his  ability,  and  his  willingness  to  work. 

[Speech  on  the  presentation  to  Congress  of  Carpenter's 
painting  of  President  Lincoln  and  his  Cabinet,  at  the 
time  of  his  first  reading  of  the  Proclamation  of  Emanci- 
pation, January  16,  1878.] 

Let  us  pause  to  consider  the  actors  in  that  scene. 
In  force  of  character,  in  thoroughness  and  breadth 
of  culture,  in  experience  of  public  aifairs,  and  in 
national  reputation,  the  cabinet  that  sat  around 
that  council-board  has  had  no  superior,  perhaps  no 
equal  in  our  history.  Seward,  the  finished  scholar, 
the  consummate  orator,  the  great  leader  of  the 
senate,  had  come  to  crown  his  career  with  those 
achievements  which  placed  him  in  the  first  rank 
of  modern  diplomatists.  Chase,  with  a  culture 
and  a  frame  of  massive  grandeur,  stood  as  the  rock 
and  pillar  of  the  public  credit,  the  noble  embodi- 
ment of  the  public  faith.  Stanton  was  there,  a 
very  Titan  of  strength,  the  great  organizer  of  vic- 
tory. Eminent  lawyers,  men  of  business,  leaders 
of  states,  and  leaders  of  men,  completed  the 
group. 

But  the  man  who  presided  over  that  council, 
who  inspired  and  guided  its  determinations,  was 


JAMES   A.    GAEFIELD.  447 

a  character  so  unique  that  he  stood  alone,  without 
a  model  in  history,  or  a  parallel  among  men.  Born 
on  this  day,  sixty-nine  years  ago,  to  an  inheritance 
of  extremest  poverty,  surrounded  by  the  rude 
forces  of  the  wilderness ;  wholly  unaided  by  par- 
ents ;  only  one  year  in  any  school ;  never,  for 
a  day,  master  of  his  own  time  until  he  reached 
his  majority ;  making  his  way  to  the  profession  of 
the  law  by  the  hardest  and  roughest  road ;  yet,  by 
force  of  unconquerable  will  and  persistent,  pa- 
tient work,  he  attained  a  foremost  place  in  his  pro- 
fession, 

"And,  moving  up  from  high  to  higher, 

Became,  on  fortune's  crowning  slope, 

The  pillar  of  a  people's  hope, 
The  centre  of  a  world's  desire." 

At  first  it  was  the  prevailing  belief  that  he 
would  be  only  the  nominal  head  of  his  adminis- 
tration ;  that  its  policy  would  be  directed  by  the 
eminent  statesmen  he  had  called  to  his  council. 
How  eiToneous  this  opinion  was,  may  be  seen 
from  a  single  incident.  Among  the  earliest,  most 
difficult,  and  most  delicate  duties  of  his  adminis- 
tration, was  the  adjustment  of  our  relations  with 
Great  Britain.  Serious  complications,  even  hostil- 
ities, were  apprehended.  On  the  21st  day  of 
May,  1861,  the  Secretary  of  State  presented  to 
the  President  his- draught  of  a  letter  of  instruc- 
tions to  Minister  Adams,  in  which  the  position  of 


448  CHIPS   FROM   THE   WHITE  HOUSE. 

the  United  States  and  the  attitude  of  Great  Britain 
were  set  forth  with  the  clearness  and  force  which 
long  experience  and  great  ability  had  placed  at  the 
command  of  the  Secretary. 

Upon  almost  every  page  of  that  original  draught 
are  erasures,  additions,  and  marginal  notes  in  the 
handwriting  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  which  exhibit  a 
sagacity,  a  breadth  of  wisdom,  and  a  comprehen- 
sion of  the  whole  subject,  impossible  to  be  found 
except  in  a  man  of  the  very  first  order.  And 
these  modifications  of  a  great  state-paper  were 
made  by  a  man  who,  but  three  months  before,  had 
entered,  for  the  first  time,  the  wide  theatre  of 
executive  action. 

Gifted  with  an  insight  and  a  foresight  which  the 
ancients  would  have  called  divination,  he  saw,  in 
the  midst  of  darkness  and  obscurity,  the  logic  of 
events,  and  forecast  the  result.  From  the  first,  in 
his  own  quaint,  original  way,  without  ostentation 
or  offence  to  his  associates,  he  was  pilot  and  com- 
mander of  his  administration.  He  was  one  of  the 
few  great  rulers  whose  wisdom  increased  with  his 
power,  and  whose  spirit  grew  gentler  and  tenderer 
as  his  triumphs  were  multiplied. 

[From  the  "  North  American  Review,"  May-June,  1878.] 

The  Secretary  of  War  is  a  civil  officer ;  one  of 
the  constitutional  advisers  of  the  President  —  his 


JAMES  A.   GARFIELD.  449 

civil  executive  to  direct  and  control  military  affairs, 
and  conduct  army  administration  for  the  President. 
.  .  .  This  was  clearly  understood  in  our  early  his- 
tory, and  it  is  worthy  of  note  that  our  most  emi- 
nent Secretaries  of  War  have  been  civilians,  who 
brought  to  the  duties  of  the  office  great  political 
and  legal  experience,  and  other  high  qualities  of 
statesmanship. 

Perhaps  it  was  wise  in  Washington  to  choose  as 
the  first  Secretary  of  War,  a  distinguished  soldier, 
for  the  purpose  of  creating  and  setting  in  order 
the  military  establishment;  but  it  may  well  be 
doubted  if  any  subsequent  appointment  of  a  soldier 
to  that  position  has  been  wise.  In  fact,  most  of 
the  misadjustments  between  the  Secretary  of  War 
and  the  army,  so  much  complained  of  in  recent 
years,  originated  with  a  Secretary  of  War  who 
had  been  a  soldier,  and  could  hardly  refrain  from 
usurping  the  functions  of  command.  .  .  . 

No  very  serious  conflict  of  jurisdiction  and 
command  occurred  until  Jefferson  Davis  became 
Secretary  of  War.  His  early  training  as  a  soldier, 
his  spirit  of  self-reliance  and  habits  of  imperious 
command,  soon  brought  him  into  collision  with 
General  Scott,  and  were  the  occasion  of  a  corre- 
spondence, perhaps  the  most  acrimonious  ever 
carried  on  by  any  prominent  public  man  of  our 
country. 


450  CHIPS   FROM  THE   WHITE   HOUSE. 


[From  a  Speech  at  Faneuil  Ha>l,  Boston,  September  11, 

1878.] 

The  Republican  party  of  this  country  has  said, 
and  it  says  to-day,  that,  forgetting  all  the  animosi- 
ties of  the  war,  forgetting  all  the  fierceness  and 
the  passion  of  it,  it  reaches  out  both  its  hands  to 
the  gallant  men  who  fought  us,  and  offers  all  fel- 
lowship, all  comradeship,  all  feelings  of  brother- 
hood, on  this  sole  condition,  and  on  that  condition 
they  will  insist  forever :  That  in  the  war  for  the 
Union  we  were  right,  forever  right,  and  that  in 
the  war  against  the  Union  they  were  wrong,  for- 
ever wrong.  We  never  made  terms,  we  never 
will  make  terms,  with  the  man  who  denies  the 
everlasting  rightfulness  of  our  cause.  That  would 
be  treason  to  the  dead  and  injustice  to  the  living ; 
and  on  that  basis  alone  our  pacification  is  com- 
plete. We  ask  that  it  be  realized,  and  we  shall 
consider  it  fully  realized  when  it  is  just  as  safe 
and  just  as  honorable  for  a  good  citizen  of  South 
Carolina  to  be  a  Republican  there  as  it  is  for 
a  good  citizen  of  Massachusetts  to  be  a  Democrat 
here. 

[  From  an  Address  at  Hiram  College.] 

Our  great  dangers  are  not  from  without.  We 
do  not  live  by  the  consent  of  any  other  nation. 
We  must  look  within  to  find  elements  of  danger. 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  451 

[From  a  Speech  on  the  Ninth  Census.] 
Statesmanship  consists  rather  in  removing  causes 
than  in  punishing,  or  evading  results. 

[From  a  Speech,  December  10,  1878.] 
The  man  who  wants  to  serve  his  country  must 
put  himself  in  the  line  of  its  leading  thought,  and 
that  is  the  restoration  of  business,  trade,  com- 
merce, industry,  sound  political  economy,  hard 
money,  and  the  payment  of  all  obligations ;  and 
the  man  who  can  add  anything  in  the  direction  of 
accomplishing  any  of  these  purposes  is  a  public 
benefactor. 

The  scientific  spirit  has  cast  out  the  Demons  and 
presented  us  with  Nature,  clothed  in  her  right  mind 
and  living  under  the  reign  of  law.  It  has  given 
us  for  the  sorceries  of  the  alchemist,  the  beautiful 
laws  of  chemistry ;  for  the  dreams  of  the  astrol- 
oger, the  sublime  truths  of  astronomy ;  for  the 
wild  visions  of  cosmogony,  the  monumental  rec- 
ords of  geology ;  for  the  anarchy  of  diabolism, 
the  laws  of  God. 

We  no  longer  attribute  the  untimely  death  of 
infants  to  the  sin  of  Adam,  but  to  bad  nursing  and 
ignorance. 

Truth  is  so  related  and  correlated  that  no  depart- 
ment of  her  realm  is  wholly  isolated. 


452         CHIPS  moM  THE  WHITE  HOUSE. 

Truth  is  the  food  of  the  human  spirit,  which 
could  not  grow  in  its  majestic  proportions  without 
clearer  and  more  truthful  views  of  God  and  his 
universe. 

Ideas  are  the  great  warriors  of  the  world,  and  a 
war  that  has  no  ideas  behind  it  is  simply  brutality. 

I  love  to  believe  that  no  heroic  sacrifice  is  ever 
lost,  that  the  characters  of  men  are  moulded  and 
inspired  by  what  their  fathers  have  done ;  that, 
treasured  up  in  American  souls  are  all  the  uncon- 
scious influences  of  the  great  deeds  of  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  race,  from  Agincourt  to  Bunker  Hill. 

Eternity  alone  will  reveal  to  the  human  race  its 
debt  of  gratitude  to  the  peerless  and  immortal  name 
of  Washington. 

I  doubt  if  any  man  equalled  Samuel  Adams  in 
formulating  and  uttering  the  fierce,  clear,  and  inex- 
orable logic  of  the  Revolution. 

The  last  eight  decades  have  witnessed  an  Empire 
spring  up  in  the  full  panoply  of  lusty  life,  from  a 
trackless  wilderness. 

In  their  struggle  with  the  forces  of  nature,  the 
ability  to  labor  was  the  richest  patrimony  of  the 
colonist. 

The  granite  hills  are  not  so  changeless  and  abid- 
ing as  the  restless  sea. 


JAMES    A.    GAEFIELD.  453 

To  him  a  battle  was  neither  an  earthquake,  nor 
a  volcano,  nor  a  chaos  of  brave  men  and  frantic 
horses  involved  in  vast  explosions  of  gunpowder. 
It  was  rather  a  calm  rational  combination  of  force 
against  force. — Oration  on  Geo.  If.  Thomas. 

After  the  fire  and  blood  of  the  battle-fields  have 
disappeared,  nowhere  does  war  show  its  destroy- 
ing power  so  certainly  and  so  relentlessly  as  in  the 
columns  which  represent  the  taxes  and  expendi- 
tures of  the  nation. 


[From  a  Speech,  June  2,  1879.] 

The  Resumption  of  Specie  Payments  closes  the 
most  memorable  epoch  in  our  history  since  the 
birth  of  the  Union.  Eighteen  hundred  and  sixty- 
one  and  eighteen  hundred  and  seventy-nine  are  the 
opposite  shores  of  that  turbulent  sea  whose  storms 
so  seriously  threatened  with  shipwreck  the  pros- 
perity, the  honor,  and  the  life  of  the  nation.  But 
the  horrors  ajid  dangers  of  the  middle-passage 
have  at  last  been  mastered ;  and  out  of  the  night 
and  tempest  the  Republic  has  landed  on  the  shore 
of  this  new  year,  bringing  with  it  union  and  lib- 
erty, honor  and  peace. 

Our  country  needs  not  only  a  national  but  an 
international  currency. 


454  CHIPS  FEOM  THE   WHITE   HOUSE. 

Let  us  have  equality  of  dollars  before  the  law, 
so  that  the  trinity  of  our  political  creed  shall  be  — 
equal  States,  equal  men,  and  equal  dollars  through- 
out the  Union. 


[Address,  at  the  Memorial  Meeting,  in  the  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives, January  16,  1879.] 

No  page  of  human  history  is  so  instructive  and 
significant  as  the  record  of  those  early  influences 
which'  develop  the  character  and  direct  the  lives  of 
eminent  men.  To  every  man  of  great  original 
power,  there  comes  in  early  youth,  a  moment  of 
sudden  discovery  —  of  self  recognition  —  when  his 
own  nature  is  revealed  to  himself,  when  he  catches, 
for  the  first  time,  a  strain  of  that  immortal  song  to 
which  his  own  spirit  answers,  and  which  becomes 
thenceforth  and  forever  the  inspiration  of  his  life  — 

"  Like  noble  music  unto  noble  words." 

More  than  a  hundred  years  ago,  in  Strasbourg, 
on  the  Rhine,  in  obedience  to  the  commands  of  his 
father,  a  German  lad  was  reluctantly  studying  the 
mysteries  of  the  civil  law,  but  feeding  his  spirit  as 
best  he  could  upon  the  formal  and  artificial  poetry 
of  his  native  land,  when  a  page  of  William  Shakes- 
peare met  his  eye,  and  changed  the  whole  current 
of  his  life.  Abandoning  the  law,  he  created  and 
crowned  with  an  immortal  name  the  grandest  epoch 
of  German  literature. 


JAMES    A.    GAEFIELD.  455 

Recording  his  own  experience,  he  says  : 

At  the  first  touch  of  Shakespeare's  genius,  I  made  the 
glad  confession  that  something  inspiring  hovered  above  me. 
.  .  .  The  first  page  of  his  that  I  read  made  me  his  for  life ; 
and  when  I  had  finished  a  single  play,  I  stood  like  one  born 
blind,  on  whom  a  miraculous  hand  bestows  sight  in  a  mo- 
ment. I  saw,  I  felt,  in  the  most  vivid  manner  that  my  ex- 
istence was  infinitely  expanded. 

This  Old  World  experience  of  Goethe's  was 
strikingly  reproduced,  though  under  different  con- 
ditions and  with  different  results,  in  the  early  life 
of  Joseph  Henry.  You  have  just  heard  the  inci- 
dent worthily  recounted ;  but  let  us  linger  over  it 
a  moment.  An  orphan  boy  of  sixteen,  of  tough 
Scotch  fibre,  laboring  for  his  own  support  at  the 
handicraft  of  the  jeweler,  unconscious  of  his  great 
power,  delighted  with  romance  and  the  drama, 
dreaming  of  a  possible  career  on  the  stage,  his 
attention  was  suddenly  arrested  by  a  single  page 
of  an  humble  book  of  science  which  chanced  to 
fall  into  his  hands.  It  was  not  the  flash  of  a  poetic 
vision  which  aroused  him.  It  was  the  voice  of 
great  Nature  calling  her  child.  With  quick  recog- 
nition and  glad  reverence  his  spirit  responded; 
and  from  that  moment  to  the  end  of  his  long 
and  honored  life,  Joseph  Henry  was  the  devoted 
student  of  science,  the  faithful  interpreter  of 
nature. 

To  those  who  knew  his  gentle  spirit,  it  is  not 


456  CHIPS  FROM  THE   WHITE  HOUSE. 

surprising  that  ever  afterward  he  kept  the  little 
volume  near  him,  and  cherished  it  as  the  source  of 
his  first  inspiration.  In  the  maturity  of  his  fame 
he  recorded  on  its  fly-leaf  his  gratitude.  Note  his 
words : 

This  book,  under  Providence,  has  exerted  a  remarkable 
influence  on  my  life.  ...  It  opened  to  me  a  new  world  of 
thought  and  enjoyment,  invested  things  before  almost  unno- 
ticed with  the  highest  interest,  fixed  my  mind  on  the  study 
of  nature,  and  caused  me  to  resolve,  at  the  time  of  reading 
it,  that  I  would  devote  my  life  to  the  acquisition  of 
knowledge. 

We  have  heard  from  his  venerable  associates 
with  what  resolute  perseverance  he  trained  his 
mind  and  marshalled  his  powers  for  the  higher 
realms  of  science.  He  was  the  first  American  after 
Franklin  who  made  a  series  of  successful  original 
experiments  in  electricity  and  magnetism.  He 
entered  the  mighty  line  of  Volta,  Galvani,  Oersted, 
Davy,  and  Ampere,  the  great  exploring  philoso- 
phers of  the  world,  and  added  to  their  work  a  final 
great  discovery,  which  made  the  electro-magnetic 
telegraph  possible. 

It  remained  only  for  the  inventor  to  construct 
an  instrument  and  an  alphabet.  Professor  Henry 
refused  to  reap  any  pecuniary  rewards  from  his 
great  discovery,  but  gave  freely  to  mankind  what 
nature  and  science  had  given  to  him.  The  vener- 
able gentleman  of  almost  eighty  years,  who  has 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  457 

just  addressed  us  so  eloquently,  has  portrayed 
the  difficulties  which  beset  the  government  in  its 
attempt  to  determine  how  it  should  wisely  and 
worthily  execute  the  trust  of  Smithson.  It  was  a 
perilous  moment  for  the  credit  of  America  when 
that  bequest  was  made.  In  his  large  catholicity 
of  mind,  Smithson  did  not  trammel  the  bequest  with 
conditions.  In  nine  words  he  set  forth  its  object 
— ' '  for  the  increase  and  diffusion  of  knowledge 
among  men."  He  asked  and  believed  that  America 
would  interpret  his  wish  aright,  and  with  the  lib- 
eral wisdom  of  science 

For  ten  years  Congress  wrestled  with  those  nine 
words  of  Smithson  and  could  not  handle  them. 
Some  political  philosophers  of  that  period  held 
that  we  had  no  constitutional  authority  to  accept 
the  gift  at  all  [laughter]  and  proposed  to  send  it 
back  to  England.  Every  conceivable  proposition 
was  made.  The  colleges  clutched  at  it;  the 
libraries  wanted  it;  the  publication  societies  de- 
sired to  scatter  it.  The  fortunate  settlement  of 
the  question  was  this :  that,  after  ten  years  of 
wrangling,  Congress  was  wise  enough  to  acknowl- 
edge its  own  ignorance,  and  authorized  a  body  of 
men  to  find  some  one  who  knew  how  to  settle  it. 
[Applause.]  And  these  men  were  wise  enough 
to  choose  your  great  comrade  to  undertake  the 
task.  Sacrificing  his  brilliant  prospects  as  a  dis- 
coverer, he  undertook  the  difficult  work.  He 


458  CHIPS   FROM   THE.  WHITE   HOUSE. 

drafted  a  paper,  in  which  he  offered  an  interpre- 
tation of  the  will  of  Smithson,  mapped  out  a  plan 
which  would  meet  the  demands  of  science,  and 
submitted  it  to  the  suffrage  of  the  republic  of 
scientific  scholars.  After  due  deliberation  it  re- 
ceived the  almost  unanimous  approval  of  the 
scientific  world.  With  faith  and  sturdy  persever- 
ance, he  adhered  to  the  plan  and  steadily  resisted 
all  attempts  to  overthrow  it. 

In  the  thirty-two  years  during  which  he  admin- 
istered the  great  trust,  he  never  swerved  from  his 
first  purpose ;  and  he  succeeded  at  last  in  realizing 
the  ideas  with  which  he  started. 

The  germ  of  our  political  institutions,  the  pri- 
mary cell  from  which  they  were  evolved,  was  in  the 
New  England  town,  and  the  vital  force,  the  inform- 
ing soul  of  the  town,  was  the  Town  Meeting, 
which  for  all  local  concerns  was  king,  lords,  and 
commons  in  all. 

It  is  as  much  the  duty  of  all  good  men  to 
protect  and  defend  the  reputation  of  worthy  public 
servants  as  to  detect  public  rascals. 

Political  parties,  like  poets,  are  born,  not  made. 
No  act  of  political  mechanics,  however  wise,  can 
manufacture  to  order  and  make  a  platform,  and 
put  a  party  on  it  which  will  live  and  flourish. 


JAMES    A.   GARFIELD.  459 

[On  the  Relation  of  the  Government  to  Science,  February 
11,  1879.] 

What  ought  to  be  the  relation  of  the  National 
Government  to  science  ?  What,  if  anything,  ought 
we  to  do  in  the  way  of  promoting  science  ?  For 
example,  if  we  have  the  power,  would  it  be  wise 
for  Congress  to  appropriate  money  out  of  the 
Treasury,  to  employ  naturalists  to  find  out  all  that 
is  to  be  known  of  our  American  birds  ?  Orni- 
thology is  a  delightful  and  useful  study ;  but  would 
it  be  wise  for  Congress  to  make  an  appropriation 
for  the  advancement  of  that  science?  In  my 
judgment,  manifestly  not.  We  would  thereby 
make  one  favored  class  of  men  the  rivals  of  all  the 
ornithologists  who,  in  their  private  way,  following 
the  bent  of  their  genius,  -may  be  working  out  the 
results  of  science  in  that  field.  I  have  no  doubt 
that  an  appropriation  out  of  our  Treasury  for  that 
purpose  would  be  a  positive  injury  to  the  advance- 
ment of  science,  just  as  an  appropriation  to  estab- 
lish a  church  would  work  injury  to  religion. 

Generally,  the  desire  of  our  scientific  men  is  to 
be  let  alone  to  work  in  free  competition  with  all 
the  scientific  men  of  the  world ;  to  develop  their 
own  results,  and  get  the  credit  of  them  each  for 
himself;  not  to  have  the  Government  enter  the  lists 
as  the  rival  of  private  enterprise. 

As  a  general  principal,  therefore,  the  United 


460  CHIPS  FKOM  THE  WHITE  HOUSE. 

States  ought  not  to  interfere  in  matters  of  science, 
but  should  leave  its  development  to  the  free,  vol- 
untary action  of  our  great  third  estate,  the  people 
themselves. 

In  this  non-interference  theory  of  the  Govern- 
ment, I  do  not  go  to  the  extent  of  saying  that  we 
should  do  nothing  for  education — for  primary 
education.  That  comes  under  another  consider- 
ation—  the  necessity  of  the  nation  to  protect 
itself,  and  the  consideration  that  it  is  cheaper  and 
wiser  to  give  education  than  to  build  jails.  But  I 
am  speaking  now  of  the  higher  sciences. 

To  the  general  principle  I  have  stated,  there  are 
a  few  obvious  exceptions  which  should  be  clearly 
understood  when  we  legislate  on  the  subject.  In 
the  first  place,  the  Government  should  aid  all  sorts 
of  scientific  inquiry  that  -are  necessary  to  the  in- 
telligent exercise  of  its  own  functions. 

For  example,  as  we  are  authorized  by  the  Con- 
stitution and  compelled  by  necessity  to  build  and 
maintain  light-houses  on  our  coast  and  establish 
fog-signals,  we  are  bound  to  make  all  necessary 
scientific  inquiries  -in  reference  to  light  and  its 
laws,  sound  and  its  laws — to  do  whatever  in  the 
way  of  science  is  necessary  to  achieve  the  best 
results  in  lighting  our  coasts  and  warning  our 
mariners  of  danger.  So,  when  we  are  building 
iron-clads  for  our  navy  or  casting  guns  for  our 
army,  we  ought  to  know  all  that  is  scientifically 


JAMES    A.    GAKFIELD.  461 

possible  to  be  known  about  the  strength  of  ma- 
terials and  the  laws  of  mechanics  which  apply  to 
such  structures.  In  short,  wherever  in  exercising 

7  O 

any  of  the  necessary  functions  of  the  Government 
scientific  inquiry  is  needed,  let  us  make  it,  to  the 
fullest  extent,  and  at  the  public  expense. 

There  is  another  exception  to  the  general  rule 
of  leaving  science  to  the  voluntary  action  of  the 
people.  Wherever  any  great  popular  interest, 
affecting  whole  classes,  possibly  all  classes  of  the 
community,  imperatively  need  scientific  investiga- 
tion, and  private  enterprise  cannot  accomplish  it, 
we  may  wisely  intervene  and  help  where  the  Con- 
stitution gives  us  authority.  For  example,  in 
discovering  the  origin  of  yellow-fever  and  the 
methods  of  preventing  its  ravages,  the  nation 
should  do,  for  the  good  of  all,  what  neither  the 
States  nor -individuals  can  accomplish.  I  might 
perhaps  include  in  a  third  exception  those  inquiries 
which,  in  consequence  of  their  great  magnitude 
and  cost,  cannot  be  successfully  made  by  private 
individuals.  Outside  these  three  classes  of  in- 
quiries, the  Government  ought  to  keep  its  hands 
off,  and  leave  scientific  experiment  and  inquiry  to 
the  free  competition  of  those  bright,  intelligent 
men  whose  genius  leads  them  into  the  fields  of 
research. 

And  I  suspect,  when  we  read  the  report  of  our 
commissioner  to  the  late  Paris  Exposition,  which 


462  CHIPS   FROM   THE   WHITE   HOUSE. 

shows  such  astonishing  results,  so  creditable  to  our 
country,  so  honorable  to  the  genius  of  our  people, 
it  will  be  found,  in  any  final  analysis  of  causes, 
that  the  superiority  of  Americans  in  that  great  Ex- 
position resulted  mainly  from  their  superior  free- 
dom, and  the  greater  competition  between  mind 
and  mind  untrammelled  by  Government  interfer- 
ence ;  I  believe  it  will  be  found  we  are  best 
serving  the  cause  of  religion  and  science,  and  all 
those  great  primary  rights  which  we  did  not  dele- 
gate to  the  Congress  or  the  States,  but  left  the 
people  free  to  enjoy  and  maintain  them. 

[Speech  on  the  National  Election.] 

The  great  danger  which  threatens  this  country  is, 
that  our  sovereign  may  be  dethroned  or  destroyed 
by  corruption.  In  any  monarchy  of  the  world,,  if 
the  sovereign  be  slain  or  become  lunatic,  it  is  easy 
to  put  another  in  his  place,  for  the  sovereign  is  a 
person.  But  our  sovereign  is  the  whole  body  of 
voters.  If  you  kill,  or  corrupt,  or  render  lunatic 
our  sovereign,  there  is  no  successor,  no  regent  to 
take  his  place.  The  source  of  our  sovereign's 
supreme  danger,  the  point  where  his  life  is  vul- 
nerable, is  at  the  ballot-box,  where  his  will  is 
declared ;  and  if  we  cannot  stand  by  that  cradle 
of  our  sovereign's  heir-apparent  and  protect  it  to 
the  uttermost  against  all  assassins  and  assailants, 
we  have  no  government  and  no  safety  for  the  future. 


JAMES    A.   GARFIELD.  463 


[Remarks,  in  the  House  of  Representatives,  February  11, 
1879,  on  the  Life  and  Character  of  Gustave  Schleicher.] 

We  are  accustomed  to  say,  and  we  have  heard 
to-night,  that  he  [Gustave  Schleicher]  was  born 
on  foreign  soil.  In  one  sense  that  is  true ;  and  yet 
in  a  very  proper  historic  sense  he  was  born  in  our 
fatherland.  One  of  the  ablest  of  recent  historians 
begins  his  opening  volume  with  the  declaration  that 
England  is  not  the  fatherland  of  the  Engligh-speak- 
ing  people,  but  the  ancient  home,  the  real  father- 
land of  our  race,  is  the  ancient  forests  of  Germany. 
The  same  thought  was  suggested  by  Montesquieu 
long  ago,  when  he  declared  in  his  Spirit  of  Laws 
that  the  British  constitution  came  out  of  the  woods 
of  Germany. 

To  this  day  the  Teutonic  races  maintain  the 
same  noble  traits  that  Tacitus  describes  in  his  ad- 
mirable history  of  the  manners  and  character  of  the 
Germans.  We  may  therefore  say  that  the  friend 
whose  memory  we  honor  to-night  is  one  of  the 
elder  brethren  of  our  race.  He  came  to  America 
direct  from  our  fatherland,  and  not,  like  our  own 
fathers,  by  the  way  of  England. 

We  who  were  born  and  have  passed  all  our  lives 
in  this  wide  New  World  can  hardly  appreciate  the 
influences  that  surrounded  his  early  life.  Born  on 
the  borders  of  that  great  forest  of  Germany,  the 
Odenwald,  filled  as  it  is  with  the  memories  and 


464  CHIPS  FROM  THE   WHITE   HOUSE. 

traditions   of    centuries,    in    which    are    mingled 

'  O 

Scandinavian  mythology,  legends  of  the  middle 
ages,  romances  of  feudalism  and  chivalry,  histories 
of  barons  and  kings,  and  the  struggles  of  a  brave 
people  for  a  better  civilization ;  reared  under  the 
institutions  of  a  strong,  semi-despotic  government ; 
devoting  his  early  life  to  personal  culture,  enter- 
ing at  an  early  age  the  University  of  Giessen, 
venerable  with  its  two  and  a  half  centuries  of  ex- 
istence, with  a  library  of  four  hundred  thousand 
volumes  at  his  hand,  with  a  great  museum  of  the 
curiosities  and  mysteries  of  nature  to  study,  he  fed 
his  eager  spirit  upon  the  rich  culture  which  that 
Old  World  could  give  him,  and  at  twenty-four 
years  of  age,  in  company  with  a  band  of  thirty- 
seven  young  students,  like  himself,  cultivated, 
earnest,  liberty-loving  almost  to  the  verge  of  com- 
munism —  and  who  of  us  would  not  be  communists 
in  a  despotism?  —  he  came  to  this  country,  at- 
tracted by  one  of  the  most  wild  and  romantic 
pictures  of  American  history,  the  picture  of  Texas 
as  it  existed  near  forty  years  ago  ;  the  country  dis- 
covered by  La  Salle  at  the  end  of  his  long  and 
perilous  voyage  from  Quebec  to  the  northern 
lakes  and  from  the  lakes  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico ; 
the  country  possessed  alternately  by  the  Spanish 
and  the  French  and  then  by  Mexico  ;  the  country 
made  memorable  by  such  names  as  Blair,  Houston, 
Albert  Sidney  Johnson,  and  Mirabeau  Lamar,  per- 


JAMES   A.   GARFIELD.  465 

haps  as  adventurous  and  daring  spirits  as  ever  as- 
sembled on  any  spot  of  the  earth ;  a  country  that 
achieved  its  freedom  by  heroism  never  surpassed, 
and  which  maintained  its  perilous  independence  for 
ten  years  in  spite  of  border  enemies  and  European 
intrigues. 

It  is  said  that  a  society  was  formed  in  Europe 
embracing  in  its  membership  men  of  high  rank, 
even  members  of  royal  families,  for  the  purpose  of 
colonizing  the  new  Republic  of  the  Lone  Star,  and 
making  it  a  dependency  of  Europe  under  their 
patronage ;  but  without  sharing  in  their  designs, 
some  twenty  thousand  Germans  found  their  way 
to  the  new  Republic,  and  among  these  young 
Schleicher  came. 

[From  the  "  North  American  Review,"  March,  1879.] 

The  ballot  was  given  to  the  negro  not  so  much 
to  enable  him  to  govern  others  as  to  prevent  others 
from  misgoverning  him.  Suffrage  is  the  sword 
and  shield  of  our  law,  the  best  armament  that 
liberty  offers  to  the  citizen. 

[From  the  Same,  June,  1879.] 

If  our  republic  were  blotted  from  the  earth  and 
from  the  memory  of  mankind,  and  if  no  record  of 
its  history  survived,  except  a  copy  of  our  revenue 
laws  and  our  appropriation  bills  for  a  single  year, 
the  political  philosopher  would  be  able  from  these 

30 


466  CHIPS   FROM   THE    WHITE    HOUSE. 

materials  alone  to  reconstruct  a  large  part  of  our 
history,  and  sketch  with  considerable  accuracy  the 
character  and  spirit  of  our  institutions. 

[Speech  in  Congress,  on  the  first  anniversary  of  Mr.  Lin- 
coln's death.] 

There  are  times  in  the  history  of  men  and 
nations  when  they  stand  so  near  the  veil  that  sep- 
arates mortals  and  immortals,  time  from  eternity, 
and  men  from  their  God,  that  they  can  almost 
hear  the  breathings,  and  feel  the  pulsations  of  the 
heart  of  the  Infinite.  Through  such  a  time  has 
this  nation  passed.  When  two  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand  brave  spirits  passed  from  the  field  of 
honor  through  that  thin  veil  to  the  presence 
of  God,  and  when  at  last  its  parting  folds  ad- 
mitted the  martyred  President  to  the  company  of 
the  dead  heroes  of  the  republic,  the  nation  stood 
so  near  the  veil  that  the  whispers  of  God  were 
heard  by  the  children  of  men.  Awe-stricken  by 
his  voice,  the  American  people  knelt  in  tearful 
reverence,  and  made  a  solemn  covenant  with  God 
and  each  other  that  this  nation  should  be  saved 
from  its  enemies ;  that  all  its  glories  should  be 
restored,  and  on  the  ruins  of  slavery  and  treason 
the  temples  of  freedom  and  justice  should  be  built, 
and  stand  forever.  It  remains  for  us,  consecrated 
by  that  great  event,  and  under  that  covenant  with 
God,  to  keep  the  faith,  to  go  forward  in  the  great 


JAMES   A.    GAEFIELD.  467 

work  until  it  shall  be  completed.  Following  the 
lead  of  that  great  man,  and  obeying  the  high  be- 
hests of  God,  let  us  remember 

"He  has  sounded  forth  his  trumpet,  that  shall  never  call 

retreat ; 

He  is  sifting  out  the  hearts  of  men  before  his  judgment- 
seat; 

Be  swift,  my  soul,  to  answer  him;  be  jubilant,  my  feet; 
For  God  is  marching  on." 

Every  great  political  party  that  has  done  this 
country  any  good  has  given  to  it  some  immortal 
ideas  that  have  outlived  all  the  members  of  that 
party. 

[Speech  at  Cleveland,  Ohio,  October  11,  1879.  —  Resump- 
tion of  Specie  Payments.] 

Now,  what  has  been  the  trouble  with  us? 
1860  was  one  shore  of  prosperity,  and  1879  the 
other;  and  between  these  two  high  shores  has 
flowed  the  broad,  deep,  dark  river  of  fire  and 
blood  and  disaster  through  which  this  nation  has 
been  compelled  to  wade,  and  in  whose  depths  it 
has  been  almost  suffocated  and  drowned.  In  the 
darkness  of  that  terrible  passage  we  carried  liberty 
in  our  arms  ;  we  bore  the  Union  on  our  shoulders ; 
and  we  bore  in  our  hearts  and  on  our  arms  "what 
was  even  better  than  liberty  and  Union — we  bore 
the  faith,  and  honor,  and  public  trust  of  this 
mighty  Nation.  And  never,  until  we  came  up  out 


468  CHIPS   FROM  THE   WHITE   HOUSE. 

of  the  dark  waters,  out  of  the  darkness  of  that 
terrible  current,  and  planted  our  feet  upon  the 
solid  shore  of  1879 — never,  I  say,  till  then  could 
this  country  look  back  to  the  other  shore  and  feel 
that  its  feet  were  on  solid  ground,  and  then  look 
forward  to  the  rising  uplands  of  perpetual  peace 
and  prosperity  that  should  know  no  diminution 
in  the  years  to  come. 

[Speech   at    Cleveland,    October    11,    1879.  —  Appeal    to 
Young  Men.] 

Now,  I  tell  you,  young  man,  don't  vote  the 
Republican  ticket  just  because  your  father  votes 
it.  Don't  vote  the  Democratic  ticket,  even  if  he 
does  vote  it.  But  let  me  give  you  this  one  word 
of  advice,  as  you  are  about  to  pitch  your  tent  hi 
one  of  the  great  political  camps.  Your  life  is  full 
and  buoyant  with  hope  now,  and  I  beg  you,  when 
you  pitch  your  tent,  pitch  it  among  the  living  and 
not  among  the  dead.  If  you  are  at  all  inclined  to 
pitch  it  among  the  Democratic  people  and  with 
that  party,  let  me  go  with  you  for  a  moment  while 
we  survey  the  ground  where  I  hope  you  will  not 
shortly  lie.  It  is  a  sad  place,  young  man,  for  you 
to  put  your  young  life  into.  It  is  to  me  far  more 
like  a  graveyard  than  like  a  camp  for  the  living. 
Look  at  it !  It  is  billowed  all  over  with  the  graves 
of  dead  issues,  of  buried  opinions,  of  exploded 
theories,  of  disgraced  doctrines.  You  cannot  live 


JAMES   A.   GAEFIELD.  469 

in  comfort  in  such  a  place.  Why,  look  here ! 
Here  is  a  little  double  mound.  I  look  down  on  it 
and  I  read,  "Sacred  to  the  memory  of  Squatter 
Sovereignty  and  the  Dred  Scott  decision."  A 
million  and  a  half  of  Democrats  voted  for  that,  but 
it  has  been  dead  fifteen  years  —  died  "by  the  hand 
of  Abraham  Lincoln,  and  here  it  lies.  Young  man, 
that  is  not  the  place  for  you. 

But  look  a  little  farther.  Here  is  another  mon- 
ument —  a  black  tomb  —  and  beside  it,  as  our 
distinguished  friend  said,  there  towers  to  the  sky 
a  monument  of  four  million  pairs  of  human  fetters 
taken  from  the  arms  of  slaves,  and  I  read  on  its 
little  headstone  this :  "  Sacred  to  the  memory  of 
human  slavery."  For  forty  years  of  its  infamous 
life  the  Democratic  party  taught  that  it  was  di- 
vine —  God's  institution.  They  defended  it,  they 
stood  around  it,  they  followed  it  to  its  grave  as  a 
mourner.  But  here  it  lies,  dead  by  the  hand  of 
Abraham  Lincoln.  Dead  by  the  power  of  the 
Republican  party.  Dead  by  the  justice  of  Al- 
mighty God.  Don't  camp  there,  young  man. 

But  here  is  another  —  a  little  brimstone  tomb 
—  and  I  read  across  its  yellow  face  in  lurid, 
bloody  lines  these  words  :  "  Sacred  to  the  memory 
of  State  Sovereignty  and  Secession."  Twelve  mil- 
lions of  Democrats  mustered  around  it  in  arms  to 
keep  it  alive ;  but  here  it  lies,  shot  to  death  by 
the  million  guns  of  the  Republic.  Here  it  lies,  its 


470  CHIPS   FROM  THE  WHITE  HOUSE. 

shrine  burnt  to  ashes  under  the  blazing  rafters  of 
the  burning  Confederacy.  It  is  dead  !  I  would 
not  have  you  stay  in  there  a  minute,  even  in  this 
balmy  night  air,  to  look  at  such  a  place. 

But  just  before  I  leave  it  I  discover  a  new-made 
grave,  a  little  mound  —  short.  The  grass  has 
hardly  sprouted  over  it,  and  all  around  it  I  see 
torn  pieces  of  paper  with  the  word  "fiat"  on  them, 
and  I  look  down  in  curiosity,  wondering  what  the 
little  grave  is,  and  I  read  on  it :  "  Sacred  to  the 
memory  of  the  Rag  Baby  nursed  in  the  brain  of 
all  the  fanaticism  of  the  world,  rocked  by  Thomas 
Ewing,  George  H.  Pendleton,  Samuel  Gary,  and 
a  few  others  throughout  the  land."  But  it  died 
on  the  1st  of  January,  1879,  and  the  one  hundred 
and  forty  millions  of  gold  that  God  made,  and  not 
fiat  power,  He  upon  its  little  carcass  to  keep  it 
down  forever. 

Oh,  young  man,  come  out  of  that !  That  is  n6 
place  in  which  to  put  your  young  life.  Come  out, 
and  come  over  into  this  camp  of  liberty,  of  order, 
of  law,  of  justice,  of  freedom,  of  all  that  is  glorious 
under  these  night  stars. 

Is  there  any  death  here  in  our  camp  ?  Yes  I 
yes  !  Three  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  soldiers, 
the  noblest  band  that  ever  trod  the  earth,  died  to 
make  this  camp  a  camp  of  glory  and  of  liberty 
forever. 

But  there  are  no  dead  issues  here.     There  are 


JAMES   A.    GAEFIELD.  471 

no  dead  ideas  here.  Hang  out  our  banner  from 
under  the  blue  sky  this  night  until  it  shall  sweep 
the  green  turf  under  your  feet  1  It  hangs  over  our 
camp.  Read  away  up  under  the  stars  the  inscrip- 
tion we  have  written  on  it,  lo !  these  twenty-five 
years. 

Twenty-fiVe  years  ago  the  Republican  party  was 
married  to  Liberty,  and  this  is  our  silver  wedding, 
fellow-citizens.  A  worthily  married  pair  love  each 
other  better  on  the  day  of  their  silver  wedding 
than  on  the  day  of  their  first  espousals ;  and  we 
are  truer  to  Liberty  to-day,  and  dearer  to  God 
than  we  were  wrhen  we  spoke  our  first  word  of 
liberty.  Read  away  up  under  the  sky  across  our 
starry  banner  that  first  word  we  uttered  twenty- 
five  years  ago  !  What  was  it  ?  "  Slavery  shall 
never  extend  over  another  foot  of  the  territories 
of  the  great  West."  Is  that  dead  or  alive?  Alive, 
thank  God,  forevermore  !  And  truer  to-night  than 
it  was  the  hour  it  was  written  !  Then,  it  was  a 
hope,  a  promise,  a  purpose.  To-night  it  is  equal 
with  the  stars  —  immortal  history  and  immortal 
truth. 

Come  down  the  glorious  steps  of  our  banner. 
Every  great  record  we  have  made  we  have  vindi- 
cated with  our  blood  and  with  our  truth.  It 
sweeps  the  ground,  and  it  touches  the  stars.  Come 
there,  young  man,  and  put  in  your  young  life 
where  all  is  living,  and  where  nothing  is  dead  but 


472  CHIPS   FKOM  THE   WHITE  HOUSE. 

the  heroes  that  defended  it !     I  think  these  young 
men  will  do  that. 

[From  a  Speech,  January  14,  1880.] 

I  say,  moreover,  that  the  flowers  that  bloom 
over  the  garden-wall  of  party  politics  are  the 
sweetest  and  most  fragrant  that  bloom  in  the  gar- 
dens of  this  world,  and  where  we  can  fairly  pluck 
them  and  enjoy  their  fragrance,  it  is  manly  and 
-delightful  to  do  so. 

[Letter  of  Acceptance,  July  10,  1880.] 

Next  in  importance  to  freedom  and  justice  is 
popular  education,  without  which  neither  justice 
nor  freedom  can  be  permanently  maintained.  Its 
interests  are  intrusted  to  the  States,  and  to  the 
voluntary  action  of  the  people.  Whatever  help 
the  Nation  can  justly  afford  should  be  generously 
given  to  aid  the  States  in  supporting  common 
schools ;  but  it  would  be  unjust  to  our  people,  and 
dangerous  to  our  institutions,  to  apply  any  portion 
of  the  revenues  of  the  Nation  or  of  the  States  to 
the  support  of  sectarian  schools.  The  separation 
of  the  Church  and  the  State  in  everything  relating 
to  taxation  should  be  absolute. 

Our  country  cannot  be  independent  unless  its 
people,  with  their  abundant  natural  resources, 
possess  the  requisite  skill  at  any  tune  to  clothe, 


JAMES   A.   GAKFIELD.  473 

arm,  and  equip  themselves  for  war,  and  in  time  of 
peace  to  produce  all  the  necessary  implements  of 
labor.  It  was  the  manifest  intention  of  the  found- 
ers of  the  Government  to  provide  for  the  common 
defence,  not  by  standing  armies  alone,  but  by  rais- 
ing among  the  people  a  greater  army  of  artisans, 
whose  intelligence  and  skill  should  powerfully  con- 
tribute to  the  safety  and  glory  of  the  nation. 

Over  this  vast  horizon  of  interests,  North  and 
South,  above  all  party  prejudices  and  personal 
wrong-doing,  above  our  battle  hosts  and  our  vic- 
torious cause,  above  all  that  we  hoped  for  and  won, 
or  you  hoped  for  and  lost,  is  the  grand  onward 
movement  of  the  Eepublic  to  perpetuate  its  glory, 
to  save  Liberty  alive,  to  preserve  exact  and  equal 
justice  to  all,  to  protect  and  foster  all  these  price- 
less principles  until  they  shall  have  crystallized 
into  the  form  of  enduring  law  and  become  in- 
wrought into  the  life  and  habits  of  our  People. 

I  look  forward  with  joy  and  hope  to  the  day 
when  our  brave  people,  one  in  heart,  one  hi  their 
aspirations  for  freedom  and  peace,  shall  see  that 
the  darkness  through  which  we  have  travelled 
was  but  a  part  of  that  stern  but  beneficent  disci- 
pline by  which  the  great  Disposer  of  events  has  been 
leading  us  on  to  a  higher  and  nobler  national  life. 

The  hope  of  our  National  perpetuity  rests  upon 


474  CHIPS   FROM   THE   WHITE   HOUSE. 

that  perfect  individual  Freedom  which  shall  forever 
keep  up  the  circuit  of  perpetual  change. 

Whatever  opinions  we  may  now  entertain  of  the 
Federalists  as  a  part}-,  it  is  unquestionably  true  that 
we  are  indebted  to  them  for  the  strong  points  of  the 
Constitution  and  for  the  stable  government  they 
founded  and  strengthened  during  the  administra- 
tion of  Washington  and  Adams. 

While  it  is  true  that  no  party  can  stand  upon  its 
past  record  alone,  yet  it  is  also  true  that  its  past 
shows  the  spirit  and  character  of  the  organization, 
and  enables  us  to  judge  what  it  will  probably  do 
in  the  future. 

Parties  have  an  organic  life  and  spirit  of  their 
own  —  an  individuality  and  character  which  out- 
live the  men  who  compose  them ;  and  the  spirit 
and  traditions  of  a  party  should  be  considered  in 
determining  their  fitness  for  managing  the  affairs 
of  the  nation. 


It  is  a  safe  and  wise  rule  to  follow  in  all  legisla- 
tion, that  whatever  the  people  can  do  without  legis- 
lation will  be  better  done  than  by  the  intervention 
of  the  State  and  Nation. 


JAMES   A.   GARFIELD.  475 


[From  a  Speech,  at  the  unveiling  of  a  Soldiers'  Monument, 
Painesville,  Ohio,  July  4,  1880.] 

I  once  entered  a  house  in  old  Massachusetts, 
where  over  its  doors  were  two  crossed  swords. 
One  was  the  sword  carried  by  the  grandfather  of 
its  owner  on  the  field  of  Bunker  Hill,  and  the 
other  was  the  sword  carried  by  the  English  grand- 
sire  of  the  wife  on  the  same  field,  and  on  the  other 
side  of  the  conflict.  Under  those  crossed  swords, 
in  the  restored  harmony  of  domestic  peace,  lived 
a  happy  and  contented  and  free  family,  under  the 
light  of  our  republican  liberties.  I  trust  the  time 
is  not  far  distant  when,  under  the  crossed  swords 
and  the  locked  shields  of  Americans,  north  and 
south,  our  people  shall  sleep  in  peace  and  rise  in 
liberty,  love,  and  harmony,  under  the  union  of 
our  flag  of  the  stars  and  stripes. 

[Speech  to  a  Delegation  of  four  hundred  Young  Men  — 
First  Voters  —  of  Cleveland,  Ohio,  at  Mentor,  October  8, 
1880.] 

I  have  not  so  far  left  the  coast  of  youth 

to  travel  inland  but  that  I  can  very  well  remember 
the  state  of  young  manhood,  from  an  experience 
in  it  of  some  years,  and  there  is  nothing  to  me  in 
this  world  so  inspiring  as  the  possibilities  that  lie 
locked  up  in  the  head  and  breast  of  a  young  man. 
The  hopes  that  lie  before  him,  the  great  inspira- 


476  CHIPS  FROM  THE  WHITE  HOUSE. 

tions  around  him,  the  great  aspirations  above  him, 
all  these  things,  with  the  untried  pathway  of  life 
opening  up  its  difficulties  and  dangers,  inspire  him 
to  courage,  and  force,  and  work. 

[From  a  Speech  in  New  York,  August  6,  1880.] 

Ideas  outlive  men.      Ideas   outlive  all 

things,  and  you  who  fought  in  the  war  for  the 
Union  fought  for  immortal  ideas,  and  by  their 
might  you  crowned  our  war  with  victory.  But 
victory  was  worth  nothing  except  for  the  fruits 
that  were  under  it,  in  it,  and  above  it.  We  meet 
to-night  as  veterans  and  comrades,  to  stand  sacred 
guard  around  the  truths  for  which  we  fought,  and 
while  we  have  life  to  meet  and  grasp  the  hands  of 
a  comrade,  we  will  stand  by  the  great  truths  of  the 
war ;  and,  comrades,  among  the  convictions  of  that 
war  which  have  sunk  deep  in  our  hearts  there  are 
some  that  we  can  never  forget.  Think  of  the 
great  elevating  spirit  of  the  war  itself.  We  gath- 
ered the  boys  from  all  our  farms,  and  shops,  and 
stores,  and  schools,  and  homes,  from  all  over  the 
Republic,  and  they  went  forth  unknown  to  fame, 
but  returned  enrolled  on  the  roster  of  immortal 
heroes.  They  went  in  flie~splrit  01  tnose  soldiers 
of  Henry  at  Agincourt,  of  whom  he  said,  "  Who 
this  day  sheds  his  blood  with  me,  to-day  shall  be 
my  brother.  Were  he  ne'er  so  vile,  this  day  shall 
gentle  his  condition ;  "  and  it  did  gentle  the  condi- 


JAMES   A.   GARFIELD.  477 

tion  and  elevate  the  heart  of  every  working  sol-  * 
dier  who  fought  in  it,  and  he  shall  be  our  brother 
for  evermore ;  and  this  thing  we  will  remember ; 
we  will  remember  our  allies  who  fought  with  us. 
Soon  after  the  great  struggle  began  we  looked  be-  • 
hind  the  army  of  white  rebels  and  saw  4,000,000 
of  black  people  condemned  to  toil  as  slaves  for  our 
enemies,  and  we  found  that  the  hearts  of  this 
4,000,000  were  God-inspired  with  the  spirit  of 
freedom,  and  that  they  were  our  friends.  We  ' 
have  seen  white  men  betray  the  flag  and  fight  to 
kill  the  Union,  but  in  all  that  long,  dreary  war  we 
never  saw  a  traitor  in  a  black  skin.  Our  prisoners, 
escaping  from  the  starvation  of  prison,  and  fleeing 
to  our  lines  by  the  light  of  the  North-star,  never 
feared  to  enter  the  black  man's  cabin  and  ask  for 
bread.  In  all  that  period  of  suffering  and  danger 
no  Union  soldier  was  ever  betrayed  by  a  black  man 
or  woman,  and  now  that  we  have  made  them  free, 
so  long  as  we  live  we  will  stand  by  these  black 
citizens.  We  will  stand  by  them  until  the  sun  of 
liberty,  fixed  in  the  firmament  of  our  Constitution, 
shall  shine  with  equal  rays  upon  every  man,  black 
or  white,  throughout  the  Union.  Now,  fellow- 
citizens,  fellow-soldiers,  in  this  there  is  all  the 
beneficence  of  eternal  justice,  and  by  this  we  will 
stand  forever. 


478  CHIPS   FROM  THE   WHITE   HOUSE. 

[Remarks  at  Chatauqua,  August  1,  1880.] 

I  would  rather  be  defeated  than  make  capital 
out  of  my  religion. 

[From  an  Address  at  the  Anniversary  of  Hiram  College, 
directly  after  the  Chicago  Convention,  1880.] 

FELLOW-CITIZENS,  NEIGHBORS,  AND  FRIENDS  OF 
MANY  YEARS  :  It  always  has  given  me  pleasure  to 
come  back  here  and  look  upon  these  faces.  It  has 
always  given  me  new  courage  and  new  friends.  It 
has  brought  back  a  large  share  of  that  richness 
that  belongs  to  those  things  out  of  which  come  the 
joys  of  life.  While  I  have  been  sitting  here  this 
afternoon,  watching  your  faces  and  listening  to  the 
very  interesting  address  which  has  just  been  de- 
livered, it  occurred  to  me  that  the  best  thing  you 
have  that  all  men  envy  —  I  mean  all  men  who 
have  reached  the  meridian  of  life  —  is,  perhaps, 
the  thing  that  you 'care  for  less,  and  that  is  your 
leisure,  —  the  leisure  you  have  to  think ;  the 
leisure  you  have  to  be  let  alone ;  the  leisure  you 
have  to  throw  the  plummet  with  your  hand,  and 
sound  their  depths  and  find  out  what  is  below ; 
the  leisure  you  have  to  walk  about  the  towers  of 
yourselves,  and  find  how  strong  they  are,  or  how 
weak  they  are,  and  determine  what  needs  building 
up,  and  determine  how  to  shape  them,  that  you 
may  make  the  final  being  that  you  are  to  be.  Oh, 


JAMES   A.   GAEFIELD.  479 

these  hours  of  building !  If  the  superior  beings 
of  the  universe  would  look  clown  upon  the  world 
to  find  the  most  interesting  object,  it  would  be  the 
unfinished,  unformed  character  of  young  men,  or 
of  young  women.  These  behind  me  have,  proba- 
bly, in  the  main  settled  such  questions.  Those 
who  have  passed  into  middle  manhood  and  middle 
womanhood  are  about  what  they  shall  always  be, 
and  there  is  little  left  of  interest  or  curiosity  as  to 
our  development.  But  to  your  young  and  yet 
uninformed  natures  no  man  knows  the  possibilities 
that  lie  treasured  up  in  your  hearts  and  intellects  ; 
and  while  you  are  working  up  these  possibilities 
with  that  splendid  leisure,  you  are  the  most  envied 
of  all  classes  of  men  and  women  in  the  world.  I 
congratulate  you  on  your  leisure.  I  commend  you 
to  keep  it  as  your  gold,  as  your  wealth,  as  your 
means,  out  of  which  you  can  demand  all  the  pos- 
sible treasures  that  God  laid  down  when  He 
formed  your  nature,  and  unveiled  and  devel- 
oped the  possibility  of  your  future.  This  place  is 
too  full  of  memories  for  me  to  trust  myself  to  speak 
upon,  and  I  will  not;  but  I  draw  again  to-day, 
as  I  have  for  a  quarter  of  a  century,  evidences  of 
strength  and  affection  from  the  people  who  gather 
in  this  place,  and  I  thank  you  for  the  permission 
to  see  you,  and  meet  you,  and  greet  you,  as  I 
have  done  to-day. 


INDEX. 


INDEX. 


Adams,  John,  45,  66-C8,  82,  85,  87,  124,  169,  189,  190. 

Adams,  John  Quincy,  51,  133,  143,  144,  441. 

Adams,  Samuel,  52,  80,  110. 

Agassiz,  Louis,  430. 

Alaska,  415. 

Allied  Powers,  The,  130. 

Amendment,  The  Fourteenth,  422. 

Amendments  to  the  Constitution,  367-370. 

America,  and  England,  318,  337. 

Arbitration,  International,  337. 


Bible,  The,  67,  143. 

Bi-metallism,  389. 

Birmingham,  England,  359,  360. 

Bismarck,  335. 

Bonaparte,  Napoleon,  335,  336. 

Books,  438. 

Boston,  45,  47,  77-80. 

British  Constitution,  116. 

Burlingaine  Treaty,  362. 

O. 

Calvinism,  View  of,  146. 

Cass,  Lewis,  199. 

Cassel,  Prince  of  Hesse-,  64. 

480 


INDEX.  481 

Chaplain  to  Congress,  121. 

Character,  98,  439. 

Chase,  S.  P.,  275,  446. 

Chinese  Immigration,  362,  363. 

Christianity,  87,  109,  110,  164,  165. 

Church-membership,  266. 

Church  and  State,  437. 

Civil  Service,  109,  120,  142,  354,  359-361. 

College  Studies,  410. 

Colored  Citizens,  290,  349,  350,  368,  369,  374,  378,  465. 

Colored  Soldiers,  260,  270,  290,  294,  298,  477. 

Commercial  Reverses,  192. 

Communism,  133. 

Concentration  of  Power,  97,  117. 

Concord,  Battle  at,  16. 

Confederation,  The,  170. 

Congress,  444. 

Congress,  Organizing,  in  1839,  166. 

Congress,  International,  319. 

Consolidated  Government,  97,  127. 

Constitution,  The  U.  S.,  171-174,  177,  394. 

Convention,  Constitutional,  24,  172. 

Credit,  Expansion  of,  221. 

Currency,  The,  184,  192,  317,  355,  356,  388,  418-420,  431. 

ID. 

Davis,  Jefferson,  449. 

Debt,  The  National,  311,  423. 

Debts,  Public,  385. 

Declaration  of  Independence,  102,  160-162,  170,  186,  189,  230- 

233,  240,  244,  400. 

Declaration  of  Independence,  Signers  of,  59,  186. 
Democratic  Party,  The,  343-345,  468. 
Depravity,  Human,  143. 
Dissolution  of  the  Union,  211,  219. 
Divorce,  197. 
Douglas,  Stephen  A.,  226,  233,  236. 


482  INDEX. 

Draft  Bill,  392. 

Duche,  Rev.  Mr.,  52-54. 

EL 

Education,  Popular,  100,  107,  117,  141,  313,  314,  317,  352-354, 

372-383,  376,  460,  472. 
Education,  Popular,  National  Aid  to,  427. 
Elections,  Purity  of,  351,  363,  462. 
Elective  Franchise,  351,  363. 
Emancipation,  270. 
Emancipation  Proclamation,  248,  250,  257-259,  265,  275-278, 

285,  294,  304,  446. 
Emerson,  Ralph  Waldo,  223,  278. 
England  and  America,  337. 
English  Constitution,  The,  188. 
Everett,  Edward,  279. 


Federalists,  The,  148,  474. 
Fillmore,  Millard,  212. 
Finance,  355. 
France,  62. 

Franklin,  Benjamin,  97,  124. 
Free  Trade,  338,  392,  421. 
French  Republic,  311. 
Fourth  of  July,  61. 
Fugitive  Slaves,  411. 
Future  Life,  The,  85. 

Q-. 

Gag-law,  168,  169. 

Garfield,  James  A.,  388,  411,  413. 

Ganibetta,  335. 

Genius,  55,  66. 

Georges,  The,  148. 

Gettysburg,  Address  at,  278,  279. 


INDEX.  483 


Goethe,  454,  455. 

Government,  118,  119,  177,  178,  187. 

Grant,  U.  S.,  280,  281,  232,  326,  332-334,  339,  345. 

Greek  Language,  The,  424. 

Greeley,  Horace,  247. 

H. 

Habeas  Corpus,  253-253. 

Hadrian,  Lines  of,  138. 

Hamilton,  Alexander,  123. 

Hampton  Institute,  383. 

Harrison,  William  Henry,  195. 

Hayes,  Kutherford  B.,  347. 

Hayti,  1G3. 

Henry,  Joseph,  455. 

Hereditary  Succession,  149. 

Hesse-Cassel,  Prince  of,  64. 

History,  425. 

Hodges,  Colonel,  262. 

Holmes,  Oliver  Wendell,  283. 

Horace,  424. 

Hughes,  Thomas,  320. 

Hutchinson,  Governor,  68,  60,  79,  80,  82. 


Ideas,  399,  476. 

Illinois,  127. 

Immigration,  107,  371-373,  375,  381 ;   Chinese,  362,  363. 

Indians,  The,  43,  196,  283,  379,  386. 

.     J. 

Jackson,  Andrew,  163,  176,  284,  309. 
Jackson,  "  Stonewall,"  324. 
Jefferson,  Thomas,  88,  124,  170,  190,  381. 
Johnson,  Andrew,  234,  284,  308,  309. 
Johnson,  Eichard  M.,  197,  200,  334. 
Judiciary,  The,  70,  72,  351. 


484  INDEX. 


L. 

Labor,  319. 

Laboulaye,  E.,  271. 

Law,  Beign  of,  426. 

Legislative  Department,  187. 

Leisure,  478. 

Liberty,  46,  86,  171,  290,  406. 

Lincoln,  Abraham,  223,  271-273,  278,  279,  322-324,  330,  366, 

367,  368,  391,  393,  413,  446-448,  466. 
Literature  in  America,  104-107. 
Locke,  John,  174. 
"  Lost  Cause,  The,"  348. 
Louis  XV.,  149. 
Louisiana,  195. 

M. 

Madison,  James,  88,  111,  170,  382. 

Manchester,  England,  251. 

Massachusetts,  12,  13. 

Massacre,  Boston,  77. 

Mathews,  Stanley,  347. 

McClellan,  George  B.,  327-330. 

Metallic  Basis,  184. 

Military  Academy,  129. 

Militia,  The,  129. 

"Minute-men"  of  1775,  169. 

Miracles,  165. 

Mississippi,  The,  195. 

Monroe,  James,  100,  122,  127,  146,  147. 

"  Monroe  Doctrine,"  130,  207,  214. 


Napoleon  Bonaparte,  335,  336. 

Napoleon,  Louis,  336. 

National  Authority,  364  ;  and  State  Authority,  130. 

National  Credit,  213,  311,  322,  362. 


INDEX.  485 

National  Debt,  311,  423. 

National  Morality,  115,  213,  322,  324,  348. 

National  Policy,  204. 

Natural  Bridge,  The,  91. 

Nature,  Conformity  to,  6G. 

Negroes,  93. 

Neutrality,  207,  208,  214. 

New  England,  440. 

New  Jersey  Delegation  of  1839,  1G6. 

New  States,  Admission  of,  127 

North  Carolina,  173. 

Nullification,  122,  123,  125,  163,  178-184. 

O. 

Orator,  The,  134. 

Oregon  Territory,  206. 
Otis,  James,  83,  84. 

F. 

Parties,  Origin  of,  399,  458. 

Party  Spirit,  141. 

Pemberton,  General,  295. 

People,  The,  66,  394. 

Perry,  Oliver  Hazard,  199. 

Persecution,  Eeligious,  112,  113. 

Petition,  Eight  of,  152-161,  168. 

Pierce,  Franklin,  217. 

Polk,  James  K.,  205. 

Poncas,  The,  387. 

Pope,  Alexander,  137. 

Potomac,  The,  90. 

President  and  Senate,  138. 

Presidential  etiquette,  190;  receptions,  268;  title,  120. 

Profanity,  22. 

Property,  262. 

Protective  Duties,  407. 

Public  Schools,  141. 

Punch,  224  n. 


486  INDEX. 


R. 

Railway  System,  The,  431. 

Randolph,  John,  144. 

Raynal,  Abbe,  104. 

Reason,  a  revelation,  68. 

Rebellion,  The,  348. 

Rebel  States,  29G,  297. 

Reconstruction,  412. 

Religion,  44,  G7,  26G. 

Religious  Freedom,  42,  89,  101,  113,  114,  121,  171. 

Republican  Party,  The,  312-345,  450,  470. 

Repudiation,  311,  385. 

Revenue,  National,  444. 

Revenue  Bills,  3G4. 

Revolution,  The  American,  186. 

Rhetoric,  134. 

Ruffner,  Dr.,  379. 


S. 

Sabbath,  The,  22,  249,  250. 

Schleicher,  G.,  463. 

School-keeping,  46. 

Schools,  Public,  352-354;  Sectarian,  352,  472. 

Science,  451 ;  relation  of  government  to,  459. 

Secession,  122,  125,  163,  179-182,  242,  243. 

Secretary  of  War,  448. 

Sectarian  Schools,  472. 

Self-government,  55,  109. 

Senate,  Functions  of  the,  120. 

Separation  from  England,  54. 

Seward,  William  H.  413,  446. 

Shakespeare,  282. 

Sheridan,  Gen.,  325,  339. 

Sherman,  Gen.,  331. 

Sin,  Original,  59. 


INDEX.  487 

Slavery,  25,  26,  85,  93-97,  104,  126,  128,  132,  151-154,  1CO-162, 
164,  184,  226,  231-236,  247,  263,  264,  267,  268,  270-275, 
286,  287,  339,  340,  374,  375,  378,  394,  395-397,  401-4*  ", 
411. 

Slave-trade,  126,  128. 

Smithsonian  Institute,  457. 

"  Solid  South,"  The,  345. 

South  Carolina,  125,  163,  174,  178-183. 

Special  Privileges,  206. 

Specie  Payments,  Eesumption  of,  453,  467. 

Spectator,  The  London,  271. 

"  Spoils  of  Office,"  125,  359. 

"  Squatter  Sovereignty,"  228. 

Stanton,  Secretary,  330,  446. 

State  Eights,  27,  243-246,  364,  370. 

Statistics,  426. 

Stuart,  A.  H.  H.,  376. 

Student,  The,  408-411,  424. 

Suffrage,  Negro,  465 ;  unrestricted,  350. 

"  Surrender,  Unconditional,"  293. 

T. 

Tariff,  The,  184,  338,  407. 

Taylor,  Zachary,  210. 

Teutonic  Races,  463. 

Texas,  244,  245,  341,  465. 

Thames,  Battle  of  the,  197-200. 

Thomas,  Gen.,  458. 

Township,  The  New  England,  409,  458. 

Trade  with  Rebels,  296,  297. 

Treason,  284,  288,  289. 

Trinity,  The,  146. 

Tyler,  John,  202. 

TJ. 

Union,  Saving  the,  247,  257-259,  339.. 
Union  Soldiers,  321,  357-358,  371. 
Utah,  312. 


488  INDEX. 


V. 

Van  Burcn,  Martin,  186. 
Vicksburg,  280,  294-296. 
Volunteer  Soldiers,  346. 

"W. 

Walpole,  Memoirs  of,  140. 

War,  332,  335,  338. 

War,  Civil,  Philosophy  of  the,  399,  400. 

Washington,  George,  11,  97,  119,  214. 

Webster,  Daniel,  383. 

Wheatley,  Phillis,  21 

Wilderness,  The,  302. 

Woman,  Political  Influence  of,  156-160. 

Writs  of  Assistance,  81,  82. 


Young  man,  Advice  to  a,  225. 
Young  Men,  475. 


UC  SOUTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACILITY 


A     000  758  295     o 


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